Gundam Seed Fates
by Canary-M
Summary: Fates is essentially a radical reenvisioning of Gundam Seed: Destiny. Its goal is to elaborate on several of the plot elements raised in Gundam Seed, including the evil of war, racial violence, evidence 01, genetic engineering and the human destiny.
1. Episode 1 Prelude To Battle

**Episode 01: Prelude To Battle**

June 15, CE 71: The Earth Alliance invades the sovereign nation of ORB in an attempt to seize control of the _Kaguya_ mass-driver. Shinn Asuka and his family rush to pack up their belongings and flee their home as Uzumi Nara Atha's order of evacuation plays on the television; they run out of their home and into a crowded bus as an M1 Astray crashes into a nearby building. Several Alliance Dagger mobile-suits appear, shooting at the fleeing ORB mobile suits as the bus with Shinn and his family flees.

Kira Yamoto, piloting the Gundam Freedom, engages the three EA Gundams (Forbidden, Calamity and Raider) in the skies above a military port at Onogoro Island. The Calamity fires its twin high-energy beam cannons, which Kira dodges. The beams pierce through an ORB battleship and it explodes. Shinn and his family, along with many other refugees that fled to the port are showered with debris from the exploding battleship. Kira continues to trade shots with the three EA Gundams as the terrified civilians pack themselves into a transport ship. On the ship, Shinn is violently thrown off the ship by a panic-stricken man and falls into the sea; losing sight of his parents and little sister in the confusion.

While fighting the Forbidden and Calamity, a Dagger tries to attack Kira from behind, but is cut down instead. Shinn struggles to stay afloat in the churning waters as his family shouts at him from the deck of the ship. Shinn watches as the Freedom slices the Dagger in two, and each burnt half of the mobile suit crash down onto the refugee ship, exploding in a plume of orange fury. Shinn's sister screams his name as she disappears in the flames. Shards of flesh and blood splatter Shinn's face. He screams at the Gundams fighting in the sky above him and faints. Shinn's body washes away in the sea while the battle for ORB continues.

Ezalia Joule is seen meeting with an EA Admiral. A short narration details the events following the battle of Jachin Due. Both the EA and ZAFT lost the majority of their fighting ability along with their respective wills to fight, and thus sign a peace-treaty. After the unprecedented violence of the Bloody Valentine War, both the Earth Alliance and PLANT are threatened more by internal strife than each other. The Earth forces abandon most of their colonies and stations in space, withdrawing their decimated fleets to a handful of orbital facilities. The EA lacks the resources to repair the majority of it's ships. The Blue Cosmos influence in the Alliance Assembly is apparently removed, while most of Patrick Zala's supporters in PLANT are stripped of power and the Clyne-faction is granted amnesty. Seven years after the war's end the Earth Sphere is still in a state of chaos. The Earth Alliance has all-but collapsed, leaving the fragmented nations of Earth to fend for themselves. The delicate political landscape of the PLANTs has fallen under the control of the most decisive leader since Patrick Zala, Gilbert Durandel, who has started re-arming the ZAFT fleets. ORB protests this re-armament, and the Chairman of ZAFT agrees to meet with a representative from ORB to discuss the re-militarization effort.

October 3, CD 78: Cagalli Yula Atha, Chief Representative of ORB, along with a diplomatic entourage, arrives at a PLANT colony. Her envoy is greeted by an honor guard from ZAFT to escort her to a diplomatic conference with Chairman Gilbert Durandel, leader of ZAFT in the Capital. A group of young ZAFT pilots (including Lunamaria Hawke and Shinn Asuka) whisper to each other as they watch the delegation from ORB pass by. Lunamaria asks Shinn what he thinks the ORB princess is there to do, but Shinn turns his head and walks away silently.

Gilbert Durandel prepares to meet the ORB delegation in his office, while several advisers stress to him the necessity of appearing strong. ZAFT lost most of its military capabilities in the Bloody Valentine War, and the lingering animosity from the conflict still remains. If ZAFT shows the slightest weakness, Durandel's advisers fear that the Earth Alliance--and the Atlantic Federation in particular--will see it as an open-invitation to resume the war, and the colonies would not have the resources to defend themselves in a protracted conflict. Durandel interrupts his advisers, saying that the new mobile suits will be a more than adequate display of strength, and that it is time for him to go and meet the "Soldier-Princess" from ORB.

Meanwhile, in open space near LaGrange-point 1, three Nazca-class ZAFT warships approach the abandoned colony, Rhodes. On board, Yzak Joule and Dearka Elsman discuss the rumors of the rebel ZAFT military units that refused to recognize the treaty ending the first Bloody Valentine War gathering at an abandoned L4 colony. The rebels are ZAFT soldiers that still follow the path that Patrick Zala preached seven years prior. Yzak says their mission is to eliminate the ZAFT remnant before they can do any damage. ZAFT's intelligence indicates that most of the rebels are gathering at Rhodes in preparation for a terrorist attack against the current ZAFT government code-named "Operation Skybreak". Yzak wonders what the purpose of the operation is, and how ZAFT found out about it. Dearka comments that they should not underestimated soldiers that have held true to their beliefs for so long without anyone supporting them.

Yzak silences Dearka with a quick nod and says that now is the perfect time to strike and remove the soldiers that still follow Patrick Zala's genocidal beliefs once and for all. Dearka says that it will probably be an easy battle since the Zala-loyalists only have older-type GINNs and CGUEs mobile suits at their disposal. Yzak says he hopes Dearka is correct and gives the order to launch. Sixteen GuAIZ mobile suits launch from the three Nazca-class warships and boost towards the colony. Dearka and Yzak don their helmets and prepare to sortie as well.

Chairman Durandel meets with Cagalli and they board the Minerva--the first ZAFT warship to be commissioned since the end of the war. Durandel boasts that the Minerva's state-of-the-art propulsion system could sail the ship from PLANT to Alexandria (Mars) and back in less than forty days. Cagalli asks if it's truly necessary to hold the conference on board a warship. Durandel says that the conference will double as an inspection of the new autonomous colonies being constructed at LaGrange-point two as part of a joint effort between ORB and ZAFT. In the hangar of the Minerva, Shinn is chastised by a mechanic for failing to take care of his mobile suit. Shinn apologizes, and climbs into the cockpit of his mobile suit, the ZGMF-X56S Impulse Gundam. He begins running a diagnostic on the system, but as he glances at the stylized "head" of his Gundam he remembers the stoic "faces" of the Freedom, Calamity and Forbidden as they fought at ORB. Shinn then wonders what Cagalli will say to Durandel, and what she hopes to accomplish. Shinn forces himself out of his musing by slamming his fist on a cockpit-screen and saying to himself that it doesn't matter, and resumes work.

Cagalli and Durandel sit down in an observation room just under the Minerva's bridge. The Minerva launches. Cagalli tries to start talking to Durandel about ZAFT's recent re-militarization, but Durandel interrupts her saying that there will be plenty of time for that conversation later, and that for now she should enjoy the view. Cagalli sighs and looks out the window as the Minerva exits the colony's port and heads into open space.

Yzak, Dearka and their team of mobile suits enter Rhodes-colony where the Zala-loyalists are supposed to be. Rhodes is a dry wasteland and the air inside the colony is saturated with dust. Dearka and Yzak fly their GuAIZ mobile suites through the center of the colony and scan the "floor" for activity while the rest of their team splits up. Yzak quickly realizes that the colony is empty and exclaims that they've been had. Dearka continues to scan the surface of the colony but sees nothing. He frowns, and says that maybe the Zala-loyalists are gathering in a different colony, or have already left. Yzak calls Dearka an idiot, and orders his team to return to the Nazca-ships.

**Episode 01 - END**

Next Episode: Those Who Seek War


	2. Episdoe 2 Those Who Seek War

**Episode 02: Those Who Seek War**

As Yzak's team leaves Rhodes Colony, they detect a single recon-type GINN. Yzak orders 2 pilots to launch and capture the rebel GINN pilot for interrogation. Dearka asks Yzak if it wouldn't be better to simply destroy the GINN, by Yzak says he's still worried about the rumors of ZAFT-rebels gathering at Rhodes, and fears that the reason they left was because they had already determined a course of action. Dearka shrugs and moves to the edge of the Nazca's bridge to watch as the two GuAIZ mobile suits approach the GINN. The GuAIZs and GINN exchange several shots, but one of the GuAIZ mobile suits manages to get behind the GINN and grab onto it while the other GuAIZ cut off the Ginn's arms and legs. As the GuAIZs return to Yzak's Nazca with the captive, the rebel pilot initiates his suit's self destruct. Yzak curses in frustration as the GINN and the GuAIZ towing it explode. The second GuAIZ is severely damaged, but still operational. Dearka orders the Nazca to open its hangar and pick up the damaged GuAIZ. Yzak wonders if he was too late and failed his mission. A communications officer alerts Yzak that the Minerva is nearby and that he is ordered to rendezvous with the new warship at best-possible speed. Yzak orders the Nazca trio to set-course for the Minerva and stares out at the empty starfield, wondering where the Zala-loyalists scurried off to.

On the Minerva, Cagalli asks Durandel why ZAFT is funding new armament-production, like the new warship they are on, rather than increasing its presence in the Asteroid Belt and Lunar mines to strengthen ZAFT's economy and access to resources. Cagalli says that the colonies will never be able to stand on their own so long as they rely on goods imported from Earth, and that the Earth itself cannot afford to sustain those living in space indefinitely. This problem will only increase as the newly-constructed L2 colonies are completed. Durandel counters by saying that the new weapons serve an equally important purpose, being symbols of strength that are necessary for ZAFT to maintain an ordered national identity. Cagalli asks if such things are truly necessary, and Durandel says that the greatest deterrent to war has always been the threat of war. ZAFT's new weapons are not enough to fight a war, he says, but they may be enough to prevent one from occurring. Cagalli says she doesn't understand what he means; all weapons do is encourage fighting. The easier it is for two opponents to fight each other, she argues, the more likely it is that they will. Durandel says he can understand her perspective, but suggests that an inspection of the new mobile suits might help her to better understand his.

On the Minerva's bridge the captain, Talia Gladys, drinks a cup of coffee while the bridge-crew go about their routine. An officer announces that three Nazca-class ships are coming into range. Talia asks if they can open up a comm channel, but is told that there is still too much interference. Another crew member reports some unusual readings in the distance towards the debris belt. Talia asks if it might be the result of solar activity or comets, but is told that it appears to be artificial. Talia says that as soon as they meet up with the Joule-team, they will make a short-detour to the debris belt to investigate before continuing to L2.

Mechanics and maintenance workers swarm about the Minerva's hangar deck, moving the mobile suits out of their locks and into a neat line on the deck for the Chairman's inspection. Shinn is talking with fellow pilot Rey za Burrel near the normal-suit changing room as Lunamaria runs past. Shinn stops her for a moment and asks her what all the commotion is about. Luna tells him that Chairman Durandel is preparing an inspection to show-off the new mobile-suits to ORB's representative. Shinn is mildly shocked, and wonders if Cagalli is truly so far removed from her father's ideals that she enjoys the aura of machines designed to kill. Rey smiles and says that now is the time for them to show everyone why they were good enough to pilot the new mobile suits and Luna agrees with him. Rey and Shinn head to their bunks to change into their formal uniforms.

Shinn, Luna, Rey and the rest of the Minerva's pilots stand at attention while Durandel and Cagalli enter the hangar. Standing at attention like human soldiers are eight of ZAFT's newest mobile-suit prototypes. The first five are prototypes for ZAFT's new mass-production line, the ZGMF-1000 ZAKU, painted a soft shade of blue with pale-gold trim. The ZAKUs utilize trans-phase armor and therefore have superior durability. The last three mobile suits are Gundams. The first is Rey za Burrel's unit, the Gaia Gundam, painted black and red. The second is the Saviour Gundam, painted bright red and piloted by Lunamaria Hawke. It is designed for superior speed and mobility, and is therefore somewhat lacking in defensive capability. The last mobile suit belongs to Shinn Asuka, the Impulse Gundam. It is a well-balanced machine with above-average speed, armor, mobility and firepower.

Durandel and Cagalli walk down the stairs from the main catwalk to the hangar floor, followed by several security officers. Durandel says that though ZAFT lacks the resources to fully mass-produce these mobile suits, simply producing a visible quantity of them will cause the warmongers to think ZAFT can mass-produce them and thus serve as a deterrent. Cagalli asks Durandel if he really thinks such a half-hearted defense will be feasible in the long-term. Durandel laughs and tells Cagalli that in war the actual capability of an army is usually less important that the perceived capability of that army. So long as ZAFT appears to be strong, it will be able to stand on a position of strength.

However, Durandel says, he does plan on constructing enough new mobile suits to defend PLANT should the need arise. Cagalli asks Durandel who poses enough of a threat to ZAFT to warrant such actions, reminding him that most of the Earth nations are too busy with internal troubles to worry about what happens in space. Durandel tells her that as long as Naturals have weapons, they will almost certainly turn those weapons against coordinators. Without a fundamental shift in human nature, the envy between Natural and Coordinators will never end, and that envy will almost always lead to violence. Durandel tells Cagalli that Blue Cosmos is not simply an organization--it is a way of thinking that pervades the mindsets of many Naturals. So long as the distinctions of "Natural" and "Coordinator" exist, humanity will be divided. Durandel tells Cagalli that long ago people used flimsy notions of ethnicity and religion as excuses for war, and that attitude took millennia to diminish, though it still exists. Coordinators and Naturals are truly different; there are no semantics, and the gap between the two groups is, therefore, much harder to bridge. Cagalli says that Durandel may be right, but that so long as people continue to think like he does the world will never change.

While Durandel and Cagalli talk, they slowly move down the line of mobile suits. At the end of the assembly, Shinn shifts his footing uncomfortably.

Yzak sits in the captain's chair of a Nazca-class vessel. An officer tells him that the Nazca group will rendezvous with the Minerva in three hours. Dearka crosses his arms and leans against a bulkhead. As the Nazcas cruise through space, an alarm klaxon sounds on the bridge. An officer shouts that a trio of CGUE mobile suits--presumably from the rebel ZAFT forces--are approaching the Nazcas at combat-speed. Yzak angrily asks where the CGUEs came from, but no other ships can be detected. Yzak gives the order to launch all mobile suits to defend the Nazcas. Dearka head toward the hangar and Yzak starts to follow, but Dearka stops him and tells him that the captain needs to stay on the bridge until he knows exactly what his happening. Yzak snarls and tells Dearka to hurry.

Dearka and 5 other GuAIZ pilots launch from the Nazcas. The CGUEs closed fast, and three of the GuAIZ were destroyed while launching from their respective Nazca-carriers. Dearka boosts upward while two of the CGUEs charge Yzak's Nazca, and destroys one of them. The other CGUE cuts down a GuAIZ and then goes after Dearka. After exchanging fire with one another, neither Dearka nor the CGUE are able to land any direct hits. Dearka gets the CGUE to follow him in a wide arc, luring the CGUE directly in front of the Nazca's 66mm Dual Railgun. After the Nazca destroys the CGUE. Dearka watches as the remaining Joule-team GuAIZs rout rout the CGUEs. Two CGUEs flee the battle after the others are destroyed, and Yzak orders the Joule team to follow them in hopes of finding the Zala-loyalists.

On the bridge of a Laurasia-class vessel, a Zala-loyalist captain is informed that they've been discovered by the Nazcas, and that the CGUE force was nearly destroyed. An officer informs the captain that repairs on the engine are still under way, and that they won't be able to outrun the Nazcas. The captain complains that they won't be able to make it to the operation-point in time, and that their discovery could very well have jeopardized the operation. The captain tells his crew that the time has finally come to crush the naturals, and that it is their sacred obligation to fight off the ZAFT ships long enough for "Operation Skybreak" to succeed.

Cagalli and Durandel near the end of the inspection. Cagalli tells Durandel that the only reason Naturals fight Coordinators is because Naturals feel threatened by Coordinators, and increasing ZAFT's military will only heighten that threat. Weapons incite violence, she says. Durandel says that may be true, but Shinn shouts at Cagalli and calls her a hypocrite. Shinn tells Cagalli that Durandel is doing the same thing her father, Uzumi Nara Atha did, and by chastising the Chairman she is shaming her family. Shinn asks Cagalli what is wrong with fighting to preserve ones beliefs. He asks her if she didn't do the same in the Bloody Valentine war. Before Cagalli can answer to Shinn's barrage, however, Rey and Luna drag him take him away. Rey bows to Cagalli and apologizes on behalf of Shinn, and tells her that Shinn lost his family in the battle for ORB. Cagalli starts to apologize, but Durandel stops her and tells her such things are not necessary

On the bridge of the Minerva, Talia is told that the Joule-team is engaged in battle with an unknown force. The Minerva's sensors pick up a single unregistered Laurasia-class warship headed toward the debris belt at a reduced speed. Talia speculates that its engines are damaged. The sensor officer then informs Talia that the Joule-team is advancing on the Laurasia-class at combat-speed. Talia then orders the Minerva, too, to advance on the Laurasia and orders all crew members to battle-stations. Rey and Lunamaria try to ask Shinn why he got so upset at Cagalli, but he is unresponsive. The call to battle stations resounds throughout the ship, and the three test-pilots head off to their respective Gundams.

**Episode 02 - END**

Next Episode: A Call To Arms


	3. Episode 3 A Call To Arms

**Episode 03: A Call To Arms**

Yzak, Dearka and several other pilots engage the lone Laurasia in a brief firefight, quickly destroying the two remaining CGUEs. Yzak lands his GuAIZ in front of the Laurasia's bridge and uses its dual-beam claw to decapitate the vessel. The Laurasia lists, and the Joule-team GuAIZs back away from the vessel. A swift artillery barrage from the Joule-team's trio of Nazca's destroys the Laurasia in a plume of light-red flame. The Zala-loyalist captain smiles and says that it's too late to stop Operation Skybreak as his ship explodes around him. Yzak turns away from the blast and slowly drifts towards the Nazcas. He spots the Minerva approaching and comments that they missed all the fun. Dearka shrugs and asks Yzak what he expected from a ship piloted by a rookies.

Cagalli and Durandel enter the Minerva's bridge. Talia informs Durandel that the Joule team destroyed the rebel Laurasia ship. Cagalli asks Durandel who they're fighting, and Durandel tells her that many ZAFT officers and soldiers refused to acknowledge the ceasefire seven years ago, and have been committing minor acts of piracy and terrorism ever since. Durandel says that although the rebels claim to follow the overzealous beliefs of Patrick Zala, preaching the annihilation of all naturals, in reality they are little more than thieves and pirates. He tells her that the Joule-team was coming back after a mission to destroy the terrorists and the Laurasia-class was probably a straggler. Durandel tells Cagalli not to worry because the Zala-loyalists are most likely completely defeated. Durandel tells Talia to invite Yzak to the Minerva, and that the ZAFT ships will do a sweep of the area before continuing to L2 just in case there are other rebel ships in the area.

In the hangar, Shinn, Luna and Rey exit their mobile suits as they hear the order to stand down. Shinn starts to remove his normal suit but Rey tells him that they are still on alert. Luna sighs and tells Shinn that he graduated too soon. Rey comments that they all graduated too soon. ZAFT lost too many soldiers in the war and needed to bolster its ranks. Luna snaps at Rey, saying she knows that, and walks off. Shinn wonders what upset her.

Yzak and Dearka enter the Minerva's bridge and salute Chairman Durandel. Durandel returns the salute and approaches Yzak, welcoming him to the Minerva. Durandel comments that Yzak's mother is making things rather difficult for him in the Assembly. Yzak apologizes to Durandel for failing his mission and tells him that they made it to Rhodes Colony too late. Talia mentions the strange readings from the debris belt, and Dearka notes that the damaged Laurasia-class ship had been moving toward the debris belt. Yzak thinks that the Zala-loyalists have likely moved their combined forces toward the debris belt to escape ZAFT. Durandel agrees and orders the Minerva and the Joule-team's three Nazcas to sail into the debris belt and search for the rebel ships. Durandel apologizes to Cagalli for the delay in the L2 colony inspection, and Dearka wonders what the Zala-loyalists really fled to the debris belt to escape ZAFT.

Kazuki Sato, a Zala-loyalist, floats through the hangar of a rebel Nazca towards his mobile suit, a red-and-green colored CGUE "DEEP Arms". An announcement echoes through the hangar ordering all pilots to prepare to sortie. Sato asks another loyalist if the explosive charges are ready, and is told that if everything continues at it's present pace the operation will end in two hours. Sato fastens himself inside the CGUE's cockpit, gently touches a faded photograph of himself with a woman and two small children, and activates his mobile suit. Above the hulking remains of an hourglass-shaped colony that was destroyed two years prior, the Nazca-class vessel and two smaller Laurasias leave the small rebel fleet's formation and sail towards the Minerva. Dozens of CGUEs and GINNs dart back and forth between the remaining ships and the two rounded colony halves, large nuclear-explosives from storage bays on the surface of the colony to a point somewhere below the wreckage. A rebel Nazca flies away from the remains of Junius Seven, revealing the massive form of the Junon Asteroid--a gigantic resourcing satellite brought to the Earth Sphere at the start of the Cosmic Era with a mass nearly one-quarter of Luna and ostensibly in the control of the Scandinavian Kingdom--below. Tiny lights dart back and forth between Junon and Junius seven as the Zala-loyalists set their explosives on the Asteroid's surface.

Two Nazca-class vessels break off from the Minerva as it enters the debris belt and move ahead to search for the rebels. Yzak's Nazca stays on the Minerva's flank. Talia asks if the ships sensors can detect any rebel ships, but before she gets an answer a half-dozen CGUEs boost out from behind a wrecked Nelson-class warship, charging at the Minerva's bridge in a moving spiral formation. The Minerva shakes violently as the mobile suits attack. Sato's CGUE flies over the bridge and blasts a breach in the ship's rear-hole. Shinn and Luna launch in their respective Gundams. Shinn fires off a barrage of missiles at two CGUEs strafing the Minerva as he launched, destroying one and damaging the other. Lunamaria launches at full speed and cuts the damaged CGUE with her beam saber, destroying the suit. Rey prepares his Gaia for launch, while Shinn engages Sato's CGUE DEEP Arms. Unable to land any hits on Sato, Shinn closes in for melee combat. Sato brings his sword to bear before Shinn's beam saber, slamming it into the Gundam's chest--directly over the cockpit area. Thanks to the phase-shift armor of the Gundam, the Impulse Gundam is unharmed. But Shinn is visibly shocked by the difference in ability.

Luna flies toward Shinn to help him out, and Sato boosts over the Minerva, firing his shoulder-mounted energy cannons at the catapult deck, destroying the Minerva's primary launch mechanism before Rey can take off. Rey's Gaia is thrown back into the hangar by the explosion. Shinn and Luna take out one more CGUE, and then attempt to attack Sato. However Sato and the two other CGUE pilots dart into the dense wreckage of the debris belt and disappear.

Talia orders both the Impulse and the Saviour to remain in space, and a pair of long, sinewy power cables unfurl from the upper seam of the Minerva's wing, locking into place in the rear of both Gundams. Though neutron-jammer cancelers were available, they were still far too expensive to be used on mobile suits. The Saviour, Impulse and Gaia were all equipped with enhanced energy-storage batteries that could be recharged mid-flight by way of detachable power-cables. Talia tells Shinn and Luna to be careful, because the rebel mobile suits could attack them at any time. She tells them to watch out for the enemy's mother ship. Shinn and Luna wonder who the pilot of the green-and-red CGUE DEEP Arms was.

On the Bridge of the Minerva Meyrin Hawke informs Talia and Durandel that the location of the rebel fleet is confirmed: they have gathered in the ruins of Junius Seven. Meyrin frowns and says to herself that something isn't right, Talia overhears and asks her what it is. Meyrin shakes her head and says it cannot be right; there must be a problem with the Minerva's instruments. Talia's eyes narrow and Meyrin quickly apologizes, haltingly informing Talia that the Ship's sensors indicate that the ruins of Junius Seven are less than a kilometer above the abandoned Junon resourcing asteroid. Durandel stands up, commenting that Junon is supposed to be in a stationary orbit at least ten kilometers further out; Talia mentions that the maintenance of Junon has been left to the Scandinavian Kingdom for the past thirteen years and Durandel orders her to move the Minerva to the Junon's new location as fast as possible.

Cagalli frowns and asks Durandel if she can borrow a message-buoy Durandel allows Cagalli's request and directs an officer to show Cagalli off the bridge. Talia asks if the mobile suits that attacked the Minerva could have been launched from the fleet at Junius Seven, but is told that the rebels at Junius Seven are too far away. Meyrin then informs Talia that communication has been severed with the two patrolling Nazca's that had separated from the Minerva earlier. Yzak assumes that they have been destroyed.

Durandel notices three small points of light in the starfield. The points expand and a trio of warship artillery-beams lance out at the Minerva. the first one misses both the Minerva and Yzak's Nazca, the second scores a glancing hit off the Minerva's port wing, scorching the red armor, and the third slams directly into the main hull of the Nazca destroying it in a fury of light and flame. Yzak curses. Sato's CGUE team emerges from the debris surrounding the Minerva and attacks. Cagalli returns to the bridge and tells Durandel that anyone ORB ships in the area will attempt to support the Minerva. Talia orders the Minerva to open fire on the Nazca.

The umbilical cables snap off the Impulse and Saviour, rapidly retracting back into the Minerva. Lunamaria Hawke shoots off the leg of an attacking CGUE with her beam rifle, and the mobile suit crashes against the Minerva's hull shaking the entire ship as it explodes. Yzak curses again, and leaves the bridge. Yzak and Dearka enter the Minerva's hangar, where the mechanics are struggling to remove the Gaia Gundam from the launch deck. Yzak asks if any of the catapults are working, and Dearka asks him if it matters. Ignoring the protests of the mechanics, Yzak and Dearka leap into the waiting cockpits of two prototype ZAKU mobile suits.

Sato takes Shinn by surprise, flying past the Impulse he blasts away the Gundam's shoulder armor with an Energy cannon. Luna tries to get in close and attack Sato, but the Zala-loyalist dodges her attack. Shinn curses and flies at Sato, only to be attacked by another CGUE. The Minerva shudders as it fails to avoid an artillery shot from the enemy Nazca. While Shinn is distracted by the CGUEs, Sato flies at him from behind and prepares to finish off the Impulse by firing his twin energy cannons at close-range.

**Episode 03 - END**

Next Episode: This Is How The World Ends


	4. Episode 4 This Is How The World Ends

**Episode 04: This Is How The World Ends**

Sato boosts at Shinn and swings his sword at the Impulse's torso, Shinn manages to lean back and avoid the attack, but as he finishes the swing Sato fires his right-shoulder energy cannon directly at the Impulse's cockpit. Shinn freezes for a moment, and then tries to boost up and away. The energy blast melts the Impulse Gundam's left leg into a molten stump. Shinn wonders how the enemy pilot can be so good while he struggles to avoid Sato's assault machine gun. Lunamaria Hawke jets towards a pair of JINNs as they begin strafing the Minerva, slicing both suits in half with her beam sabers As the JINNs explode behind her, Luna turns to see Shinn fleeing from Sato's CGUE DEEP Arms.

Yzak and Dearka's ZAKU mobile suits gently leap off of the Minerva's deck and drift away from the ship before engaging their thrusters. The two veterans manage to destroy the remaining JINNs and CGUEs, and then move to support Shinn and Luna as the struggle against Sato. The Minerva fires its Tannhäuser cannon at the rebel ZAFT ships; the positron beam cuts through both of enemy Nazca warships, destroying them instantly. Sato barely manages to avoid a shot from Dearka, and realizes that he cannot win. He flees toward Junius Seven; Shinn and Luna are too exhausted to give pursuit. Dearka starts to follow after Sato in his ZAKU, but Yzak stops him and tells him not to be rash.

On the Minerva's bridge Talia wonders what the Zala-loyalists are trying to do with Junius Seven and the Junon asteroid. Durandel says that given the enemy's ability and level of coordination, they have to assume the worst. Cagalli says that whatever they're doing, it's going to be bad. The bridge is silent for a moment, prompting Arthur to turn to Talia and ask her if the nuclear-powered positioning thrusters on Junius-7 are still operational; Talia looks to Meyrin, who is busy pulling up information on her screen. After a moment, Meyrin confirms that the colony's engines are still operational, despite the damage. Durandel raises his hand to his head and presses his eyes closed as the reality of the situation dawns on him. Before anyone has time to dwell on the news an officer alerts Talia that three unidentified ships are approaching the Minerva from the starboard flank. Arthur declares that two of the ships are the Joule-team Nazca's, but the third is unknown. Talia asks for a visual, and the three ships appear on screen. Cagalli smiles grimly and identifies the third ship as one of ORBs Izumo-class refits.

An intense light fills the Minerva's bridge. Arthur identifies the light as the result of Junius-Seven's nuclear engines firing. The lower landmass of the colony begins accelerating towards downward and Talia demands to know the trajectory of the advancing colony. Meyrin, terrified, announces that the remains of Junius Seven have collided with the Junon Asteroid and the combined mass is slowly accelerating toward the surface of the Earth. A collective gasp is heard throughout the bridge. Cagalli informs Durandel that she will be transferring over to the Izumo.

The two Nazcas, Izumo and the Minerva approach Junius Seven. The small Zala fleet moves away from the colony wreckage to engage ZAFT while the Zala mobile suits continue placing nuclear thrusters on the surface of Junius Seven, increasing the falling colony's acceleration toward Earth. Several Zala-loyalist JINNs and CGUEs join the attack. Sato remains on the "ground" of Junius Seven to supervise the remaining forces. The power cables snap off the ZAFT mobile suits as they boost towards the enemy. Cagalli launches from the Izumo's catapult in a Strike-II Gundam. Several Astray units are launched behind her.

Three JINNs rush at the Minerva clustered together; Shinn destroys all three with a quick missile barrage. Luna congratulates him as she blasts the head off of a CGUE. Rey tells his fellow pilots not to get distracted. Cagalli's Strike II flies past the ZAFT suits toward Junius Seven, ignoring the renegade Zala warships. As she passes, Cagalli shouts at Shinn, Rey and Luna asking them what they're doing. Luna marvels at the Strike II's speed. Yzak tells Shinn, Luna and Rey that the objective of the mission is to stop Junius Seven's descent. The Joule-team's GuAIZ mobile suits will take care of the attacking warships. The three ZAFT Gundams, along with Yzak and Dearka then follow the ORB suits toward the colony. Talia broadcasts from the Minerva that the objective of the ZAFT and ORB forces is to prevent the renegade ZAFT mobile suits from activating any more nuclear thrusters on Junius-7. If they can prevent the colony's nuclear thrusters from firing it might be possible to keep the Junon Asteroid from colliding with Earth.

As he nears the battered surface of Junius-7, Shinn spots Sato's custom-colored unit and attacks. Rey tells Shinn not to lose his head. As Shin and Sato fight, it is evident that Sato is the superior pilot, although Shinn does fare better than he did in their previous fights. Yzak and Dearka annihilate a squad of JINNs around a nuclear thruster, and proceed to destroy the device. Rey and Luna continue to combat the renegade mobile suits; their Gundams are strong enough that the only real danger they face is from the quantity of enemy machines.

Sato fights Shinn with his back to a nuclear thruster, and Shinn is too distracted by the mobile-suit melee to consider Sato's objective. Sato pauses and looks to the leviathan thruster as it ignites and the colony's decent increases proportionately. Shinn screams triumphantly, thinking Sato had lowered his guard, and jumps to attack at close-range with his beam saber Sato reacts poorly, and the Impulse's beam saber cuts through the custom CGUE's right arm, severing it completely. Sato leaps backward and withdraws from the battle. Shinn exclaims his victory and starts to follow Sato deeper across the landmass, but Cagalli's Strike II slams to the ground in front of the Impulse. Cagalli asks Shinn what he's doing; Shinn starts to respond angrily but is silenced as Cagalli cuts through the nuclear thruster with a high-output beam saber, returning the weapon to it's recharge mount on the suit's back as the giant propellant mechanism explodes. Cagalli shouts at Shinn that nothing else matters except to stop the colony's descent. Shinn freezes in shame as Cagalli flies toward another nuclear thruster towering in the distant horizon.

Yzak reports to the Minerva that they've destroyed a half-dozen of the colony's nuclear thrusters, but at their present pace the ZAFT and ORB forces will not be able to prevent the colony from pushing Junon down to Earth. Talia tells them to hurry up as a shot from the Minerva's Tannhäuser pierces the stern of one of the last remaining renegade Laurasias, igniting the vessel in a bright sphere of flame.

As Cagalli destroys a second nuclear thruster, Kazuki Sato attacks. Recognizing the custom suit as emblematic of a leader, Cagalli asks Sato what he hopes to accomplish. Sato slams his CGUE into the Strike II and says that a world of laughter and happiness cannot exist after the Bloody Valentine massacre. Cagalli tells him that dropping an asteroid on Earth won't change anything.

Sato declares that the only way mankind can ever advance is for every last natural to die. Sato says that the words of Patrick Zala represent the true thoughts of all loyal coordinators. He says that if George Glen were alive, he would agree. Cagalli has a flashback of Athrun Zala. We see Cagalli and Athrun speaking inside the port of a Colony, though we cannot hear the words. Cagalli and Athrun embrace, and then Athrun walks onto a shuttle. Cagalli stares sorrowfully out a window as Athrun's shuttle flies out into the darkness of space.

Cagalli grimaces as she dodges a blast from Sato's single remaining energy cannon and goes into Seed-mode. She slices the CGUE DEEP Arms' other arm off, and then cuts through both of it's legs. Cagalli turns and destroys the nearby nuclear thruster. A renegade JINN finishes off a GuAIZ high above the surface, and flies in the direction of Cagalli's suit as it sees the thruster explode. Sato boosts his suit's torso at the Strike II. Cagalli notices the movement and turns rapidly, cutting through the CGUE's chest armor with her beam saber, exposing the cockpit.

Cagalli asks Sato if he wants to die that badly. Sato tears the faded photograph of himself, a woman and two children off of a screen in the cockpit and replies that they are fighting over the graves of his wife and children. He died when they did. Cagalli is momentarily shocked. Sato escapes from the CGUE's cockpit and into the open hand of an allied JINN. The renegade JINN flies away with Sato in it's grasp. Sato smiles grimly as his CGUE explodes against the Strike II, knocking the Gundam back and slamming it against the ground of the colony, tearing up chunks of dirt and rock as it slid.

On the bridge of the Minerva, Meyrin announce that the Junon Asteroid has fallen too far into the Earth's gravity well to be stopped; it has passed the point of no return. The bridge is silent as everyone watches Junon slowly descend. Cagalli slams her fists on the Strike II's cockpit in frustration. Rey and Luna watch in Silence. Yzak curses. Shinn stares as tiny fragments of the colony are torn off by the pressure of the nuclear thrusters and fall into the upper atmosphere, burning up. Junius Seven splits down the middle and the shards of rock and metal break apart, seeming to float upward as the hulking mass of Junon continues its slow descent. Shinn stares in horror and wonders what will happen next.

Talia asks if there is anything they can do. Durandel tells her that all they can do is pray. Meyrin asks if they could try to destroy the asteroid and break it into fragments with the Tannhäuser. Arthur tells her that they could never hope to destroy all of the falling asteroid, and breaking it into smaller pieces would only increase the damage to Earth. If the asteroid were to break as it fell, it would cause severe damage across the entire surface of the Earth rather than just a single point.

A solid-black JINN rushes at Cagalli. Sato is the pilot. Sato swings the Jinn's sword at the Strike II's head, and shouts triumphantly as the iconic faceplate is shattered and the bare machinery laid open. The Strike II's phase-shift armor deactivates and Cagalli punches at the JINN as the surface of the colony shudders beneath them.

Scenes of Earth flash by. Children play outside, students laugh and everyone goes about their normal lives. Short scenes flash by showing Djibril speaking to a man in an Earth Alliance uniform, Sai tinkering with the electronic innards of a prosthetic arm, and Kira and Lacus walk through a park in, presumably, ORB.

The crew of the Minerva, and the pilots fighting outside watch in stunned horror as dozens of shaped nuclear explosives detonate nearly simultaneously across the surface of Junon, cutting deep into the surfaces of the asteroid. The ground shudders and splits apart beneath the feet of Cagalli and Sato's mobile suits as they duel on Junon's surface. Sato laughs triumphantly, declaring that finally the naturals will be wiped clean from the pages of history.

**Episode 04 - END**

Next Episode: Across The Burning Heavens


	5. Episode 5 Across The Burning Heavens

**Episode 05: Across The Burning Heavens**

On the surface of Junon Kazuki Sato's black JINN lunges at Cagalli Yula Atha's Strike II Gundam, plunging its giant sword into the Gundam's head just as the phase-shift armor deactivates, cleaving half of the "skull" from the Strike II's shoulders. Sato laughs triumphantly as large chunks of the asteroid continue to separate and descend towards the Earth. Sato declares that all of the naturals will die and Cagalli asks him how he can be so evil. The giant chunk of rock and dirt that the Strike II and JINN are standing on accelerates toward the upper atmosphere; smaller particles of rock separate and fall at a faster velocity, rapidly burning up in the planet's atmosphere. Sato says that no morality can apply to beasts that have no morality of their own. Cagalli rams her Gundam into the JINN, crushing the ruined "head" against Sato's mobile suit.

Dodging chunks of falling rock and metal, Shinn and Luna continue fighting the Zala remnants. Shinn fires his twin beam cannons at a duo of CGUEs, cutting through both suits and a large chunk of falling wreckage. Luna twists her Saviour into mobile-armor mode and weaves through the falling debris, firing her beam rifle through the chest of a defending JINN and spinning back into mobile-suit form just in time to gut the bridge of an enemy Nazca-class with her beam saber

Rey, Yzak and Dearka pull back from the falling remains of Junon to the Minerva. On the bridge of the Minerva, Talia orders the ship to ascend. Durandel frowns as he watches the Junon asteroid fall. Arthur alerts Talia that a rebel-CGUE is incoming from above. Talia orders the Gaia Gundam and prototype-ZAKUs to defend the bridge, but is told that they are too far away. The CGUE lands directly in front of the Minerva's bridge and prepares to decapitate the ZAFT vessel with its assault-machine-cannon. And M1b Astray from the Izumo flies at the CGUE and rams it; both mobile suits topple off the Minerva's "spine" and onto it's port wing, disappearing in a ball of flame. Rey's Gaia and the prototype-ZAKUs arrive at the scene, and Rey informs Talia that the Zala-loyalists have been routed. Durandel tells Talia that unless the rebels are completely annihilated they will never be forgiven for failing to stop the asteroid. All eyes on the bridge watch as the first large masses of Junon plunge through the atmosphere and strike the planet's surface.

On earth, a group of children run around a playground. A small boy teases a girl while his mother urges him to stop while she holds an infant. The baby looks up at the sky and smiles; the infant brings it's tiny arms up above it's head and makes grabbing motions and giggles with glee. The little girl kicks the boy, sticks her tongue out and runs away. The boy follows after her and the mother sighs.

A small lights can be seen reflecting in the infant's eyes as he reaches upward. The reflected light gets larger and brighter. A huge chunk of rock slams into the city behind the playground demolishing the buildings and displaying an enormous light. The little boy and girl stop their teasing and look at the explosion. A powerful shock wave rocks the playground violently and the metal poles supporting the swing set snap. Before anyone can react, a vast wall of fire sweeps across the playground incinerating everyone and reducing the land to rubble.

Similar chunks of metal, rock and dirt impact Paris, Prague, Venice, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sydney, Capetown, New York, New Deli, Moscow, San Francisco, and Istanbul. Huge fields of wheat in North America and North Africa are also hit. Smaller chunks of Junon crash through skyscrapers, one after another, before impacting on the ground, leaving large craters and rapidly-spreading fires in their wake.

Meyrin Hawke gasps on the bridge of the Minerva as huge portions of the Earth's surface glow red from the numerous impacts and then slowly fade to dark brown as massive quantities of dust and smoke are thrown into the planet's sky. Talia tears her eyes away from the scene on the planet orders Shinn and Luna to return to the Minerva. Three ORB vessels and a handful of ZAFT warships approach the debris belt, too late, to support the Minerva. Arthur tells Talia that the Izumo is descending into the falling debris.

Frantically dodging the falling debris as everything continues to descend toward Earth, Luna acknowledges the Minerva's order to pull back, and relays the orders to Shinn. Shinn is frozen in shock as he watches the smaller pieces of Junon crash to Earth. The Impulse Gundam is buffeted by falling debris. Luna shouts at Shinn to wake up. Shinn apologizes and Luna boosts up and away. As Shinn prepares to do the same, he notices several flashes of light on a rapidly-descending landmass below him. He magnifies the image and is shocked to see Cagalli's Strike II fighting a black JINN.

Shinn tells Luna that he will be right back and accelerates toward Cagalli as fast as he can, struggling to avoid the chunks of colony that are falling all around him. Luna is surprised, and stops. She wonders what the hell Shinn is thinking and turns the Saviour around to follow him. On the bridge of the Minerva Talia wonders what Shinn and Luna are thinking to ignore their orders at a time like this.

Cagalli and Sato continue to fight. Without it's phase-shift armor, the mobile suits appear to be on equal terms. As he approaches the site of the battle, Shinn tells Cagalli that if she stays around much longer, she won't be able to escape the Earth's gravity. Cagalli says that the Earth has seen too much sorrow already. Shinn has a flashback of teasing his sister. The images of his younger sister laughing happily slowly transform into a look of shock as the refugee ship explodes underneath her. Shinn growls flies toward Cagalli, slicing the black JINN's head off. The JINN boosts backwards and lands on the edge of the landmass, causing the edge to break away from the main mass and begin to burn up in the atmosphere. Sato leaps his JINN into the air and, as the atmosphere shears off the JINN's extremities, declares that justice has finally been served. Shinn flies toward the black JINN, but before he can reach it Sato takes his heavy-sword and plunges it through is own cockpit, impaling himself. Cagalli and Shinn watch in shock as the wounded JINN drifts outward, glows red from the heat, and explodes.

Shinn tells Cagalli that they have to leave immediately or it will be too late. The Strike II and the Impulse boost upward, the Strike II assuming the lead position. The bare metal of Cagalli's Gundam starts to glow red and she sweats visibly as the internal temperature rises. The two mobile suits fly above the largest concentrations of rubble and stop. Cagalli turns to look at Earth which is rapidly turning red. Shinn's eyes widen as he watches the fires of destruction spread across the planet and begins sobbing. He apologizes to Cagalli repeatedly, saying he misjudged her before and that he should have realized what kind of person she was. Cagalli tells him not to mind it, Shinn then says that it's all his fault. If he had been concentrating better he could have destroyed more of the nuclear thrusters and Junon would never have fallen. As he speaks, tears stream down his face and Cagalli remembers the Impulse standing motionless on the surface of Junon as a nearby nuclear-thruster ignited. Cagalli frowns and looks away, unsure of what to say.

A chunk of rock about twice the size of a mobile suit hurdles toward Shinn and Cagalli. It slams into the Strike II and knocks Cagalli's Gundam back down toward Earth. Shinn is startled and flies after her. Shinn reaches out the Impulse' hand and grabs on to the Strike II's hand. Shinn smiles, but as he prepares to carry the Strike back out of the Earth's gravity well the ambient heat melts through the Strike II's arm, separating the Gundams The Strike II falls down toward earth. Shinn prepares to follow after her again, but Luna grapples Shinn's Impulse from behind and drags him upward. Shinn watches as the Strike II gets smaller and smaller on his monitor. A computerized voice softly resounds through the Impulse' cockpit informing Shinn that the Strike II has passed the point of no-return.

**Episode 05 - END**

Next Episode: Stardust Battlefield


	6. Episode 6 Stardust Battlefield

**Episode 06: Stardust Battlefield**

In Earth's orbit giant chunk's of the Junon mega-asteroid split into a myriad of smaller pieces, gaining speed as they fall. From the cracks in the continent tiny chunks or metal and rock fall out like sand, streaking across the blue skies below. Dozens of lights flash as a battle occurs within the fragments of the falling colony. Massive pieces of colony slam down on the Earth's surface. Paris is leveled to the ground, Istanbul is burning. New York and Hong Kong are completely submerged by the sea and fiery fragments of Junius Seven continue to rain down on the hapless denizens of the planet.

Violent waves thrash against the metal facade of a bunker located on one of ORB's many beaches. Inside, Kira Yamoto and Lacus Clyne embrace as the ground shudders. A nearby cliff collapses and crashes down against the shelter. Thunder roars above as the forests burn. In an isolated airfield located in ORB's elevated inland, Kuzzey Buzzkirk takes off into the air in a modified skygrasper, painted red and yellow. The city of Onogoro burns. Kuzzey flies his skygrasper in a lazy arc over the city, grimaces, and fires a trio of "missiles" at a flaming residential area. The "missiles" detonate several meters above the flame, erupting in a sticky white foam that suffocates the flames. Black clouds blot out the sun as a handful of ashen civilians crawl out of the foam and stare bleakly at the sky as burning-red chunks of rubble rain down from the heavens. Inside the battered shell of an old European Castle along the Rhein River, Lord Djibril crawls out from the door of a bomb shelter under a large mahogany desk, pushing aside a large chunk of debris obstructing his exit. He asks himself if it's over and tries to keep his hands from shaking. A huge portion of the castle's wall has collapsed into a pile of bricks; the television monitors that once adorned the walls of Djibril's office lay shatter in the rubble at his feet. The tallest remaining part of the castle is an arched frame with jagged pieces of red, yellow and blue stained-glass framing the red skies in the distance. Djibril kicks a piece of stone away from him only to see his large black cat dead beneath it.

High above the chaos on Earth, Shinn and Luna approach the Minerva. On the ship's bridge dozens of monitors record the destruction of Earth as-seen from orbit. Arthur states that Eurasia and South-east Asia were hit the hardest, and that large portions of South America and Central Africa were spared from the inferno. Meyrin asks if everyone on Earth is dead; Arthur responds that the damage probably looks worse than it really is--a majority of Earth's population likely survived the bombardment. Durandel interrupts to state that the biggest problem is the destruction of farmland and all the dust thrown into the air. Most people live in crowded cities and rely on foods imported from agricultural areas to survive; with Earth's current level of destruction many of these people will starve to death. Not to mention that the dust in the air will be like poison for those breathing it, and will keep new crops from growing. The silence following Durandel's comments breaks as Luna requests permission to land. The crew resumes their professional attitude and the Impulse and Saviour are quickly welcomed aboard.

The Minerva pulls out of orbit as the last pieces of Junon crash to Earth. Talia asks what happened to ORB's Izumo, and is told that the ship disappeared along with the fragments of Junon as it descended. Arthur tells her that the Izumo is capable of withstanding the trauma of atmospheric re-entry, but with all of the debris in the area it's impossible to know whether or not they made it safely to Earth. Durandel says that perhaps the crew of the Izumo would be better of dying than living on to face the hell that Earth had become. Talia wonders if there is anything PLANT can do to help, and Arthur informs her that communication between the various nations of Earth--not to mention space--will be impossible until the debris settles. Durandel tells Talia that there is nothing anyone can do here, and orders her to set course for Aprillius Colonies.

In the Minerva's hangar Luna helps Shinn out of the Impulse as a team of mechanics swarm over the immobile Gundam As they float towards the locker area, Shinn shrugs off Luna's help and leaves the hangar deck. Shinn enters his cabin and falls onto his bunk. He closes his eyes and slams his fist against the wall, the force of which causes his body to float off the bed and float gently upward. Shinn clenches his fist and screams in the solitude.

At Bruges, a former mining asteroid parked in a high geostationary orbit over the planet's axis, now a military fortification of the Earth Federation, a slightly overweight Federation officer stares down at the flames consuming Earth. The man, Admiral Andrei Duskin, stares blankly at the scene before him while his left eye twitches uncontrollably. Dozens of officers rush from control-station to control-station desperately trying to figure out what happened and to re-establish contact with the Federation's headquarters in Washington. A nervous ensign raises his voice above the dim cacophony of the command center informing Admiral Duskin that the apparent cause of the destruction was Junius Seven falling out of orbit and fragmenting. Duskin asks what could have made the colony fall, and an ensign replies that any number of factors could have contributed, but given the level of destruction and the lack of any fore-warning the most likely reason for the colony's fall is human intervention. Another ensign asks who could have done such a thing. Duskin growls a single word: coordinators.

Staring out across the barren landscape of the moon, the command center of the Earth Federation's mobile suit factory outside of Armstrong City was quiet. The base commander sat in his chair leisurely sipping a glass of coffee. An aide steps up to the commanders side and mentions that it will be dawn any time now. The commander yawns and comments that he cannot wait to go off-duty. A blue sliver appears at the horizon and slowly widens into an arc as the Earth rises. As the commander prepares to sign-off on the duty-log an ensign gasps audibly. The commander looks up to see the Earth rise above the horizon mottled red-and-brown instead of the usual white-and-blue. His eyes dilate in horror.

The two remaining Joule-team Nazca's depart from the Minerva and head towards a nearby resource-satellite. On board the bridge of the "Chasseur de Têtes" Dearka complains to Yzak that it's troublesome to be assigned the same mission twice. Yzak scowls and Dearka and asks if the ship's sensors have detected the fleeing Zala remnant yet. They have not. Dearka comments that they won't get very far and it's only a matter of time before the Chasseur de Têtes catches them.

As the Chasseur de Têtes approaches the site of the resourcing-satellite, an officer on the bridge informs Yzak that the outpost is no longer present. Yzak asks the officer what he meant and is told that the PLANT resourcing satellite that had once been at their location was now gone. Yzak curses and Dearka leans against a bulkhead wondering what happened. Before the Joule-team can investigate any further, another bridge-officer informs Yzak that they are receiving an SOS from a PLANT shuttle nearby. Yzak orders the Chasseur de Têtes to answer the distress call.

As the Chasseur de Têtes approaches the PLANT shuttle, alarm claxons sound as a trio of Earth-Federation warships are spotted by long-range optical sensors. All three ships are identified as Marseilles-III class military transports. As the Joule-team approaches Yzak orders the remaining mobile-suits to launch. Because the team had suffered losses in the previous battle, Yzak and Dearka also launch in the two prototype-ZAKUs loaned out to them by Durandel. The ZAFT mobile suits blast towards the attack EA ships. Yzak demands their surrender, but receives no reply. Of the 7 enemy mobile suits, six break away from the PLANT shuttle to attack the Joule-team. Two of the enemy suits are destroyed as the try to strafe the ZAFT mobile-suit formation. The seventh EA mobile suit turns it's head to face the attacking ZAFT suits and raises it's beam rifle, blasting through the hull of the civilian shuttle. Yzak curses and breaks away from the rest of his team. A ZAFT pilot starts to follow but Dearka tells him to let the commander be and orders the team to engage the EA suits. After a pitched battle, the Joule-team emerges victorious.

Yzak blasts past the seventh EA mobile suit and fires the ZAKU's beam cannon directly at the bridge of the first Marseilles-class vessel. He then flies toward the second but his it by a shot from the seventh EA mobile suit. A trio of Joule-team suits attack the EA suit from different angles, but the Federation pilot manages to avoid the attack. Off-balance, Yzak's ZAKU crashes into the hull of the second Marseilles-class vessel, causing it to list uncontrollably. Unfazed, Yzak raises his beam rifle and snipes the bridge of the third Federation ship. A pair of energy-beams lance out from the rifles of two Joule-team GuAIZ' and pierce the hull of the third federation warship. Yzak tells the lone EA pilot that he has nowhere to retreat and again demands a surrender. The EA responds by shouting that he would rather die than be a prisoner of the damned coordinators that destroyed Earth, and rushes at Yzak's ZAKU. Yzak sighs, and fires a single shot of energy at the Federation suit, watching as the last Federation pilot dies in ball of lame.

Yzak rejoins the remainder of his team and the mobile suits return to the Chasseur de Têtes. Dearka asks Yzak if their battle meant that another war has started. Yzak tells Dearka that he doesn't know.

**Episode 06 - END**

Next Episode: The Corinthian Assault


	7. Episode 7 The Corinthian Assault

**Episode 07: The Corinthian Assault**

The Minerva approaches the central docking port of Aprillius; the ship's main hangar bay doors open and a small shuttle carrying Gilbert Durandel, Supreme Chairman of ZAFT, disembarks for the PLANT. On the Bridge everyone salutes the shuttle as it enters the colony. Talia orders the Minerva to assume a stationary anchor outside Aprillius and wait for further orders. Arthur asks her how long she thinks that might take, and Talia responds that given the situation the ship could receive orders at any time.

In the pilots mess hall aboard the Minerva Shinn, Rey and Luna eat in silence. Rey speaks up, commenting that he had no idea the renegade ZAFT soldiers were so well-organized. Shinn says nothing and Luna asks if this means they are at war again. Rey closes his eyes and asks Luna who she thinks they would go to war against. Rey says that it's unlikely the Earth Alliance will survive the disaster, and even if they did manage to survive as a political entity they wouldn't have the resources to mount any sort of realistic operation in space. All three Gundam pilots remember the battle over Junius 7 and the mottled red flames that enveloped the globe thereafter. Shinn clenches his fist as he remembers watching Cagalli plummet into the atmosphere amid the final hulks of Junius Seven. Shinn stands up, and on his way out asks Rey what he thinks the Earth Alliances military that's already in space will do. The door shuts behind him and Ray softly says a single word: attack. Lunamaria Hawke frowns and reaches for her drink.

Inside the capital building located in the geographic center of Aprillius II's lower continent, Gilbert Durandel brushes his entourage of advisers aside and enters the large round table meeting room of PLANT's supreme council. As he takes his seat at the table Durandel asks the others present if they are all well-appraised of the situation. Ezalia Joule comments that they know all about what happened at debris belt and the result, but no one knows anything about what's happening on Earth. Orbital satellites confirmed at least 300 separate major impacts on the planets surface, and the ensuing dust and atmospheric distortion prevent any communication to the planet from orbit. Ezalia states that the only way to contact anyone living on Earth, or to accurately survey the planet's condition, PLANT would have to send a vessel to Earth and await its return.

All communication will need to be done by messenger, Ezalia continues, and at this point it is difficult to discern whether or not any location on the planet has the capacity to send a vessel into space. Another chairperson interrupts Ezalia and states that the United Emirates of ORB has already managed to launch a small shuttle in orbit containing a short message for Durandel. The chairperson continues that ORB's chief representative Cagalli Yula Atha was successfully recovered during the descent and sustained only moderate injuries and that she requests and urgent meeting the Durandel as soon as possible. Durandel smiles mildly at the news but does not look surprised, and asks himself just how long "as soon as possible" will be.

After the meeting concludes Durandel is seen alone in his office looking at various images of Earth's destruction--taken from orbit--as well as reports on the estimated level of damage. Durandel wonders whether or not it will be possible to turn this tragedy into an opportunity. Durandel recalls meeting with Rau le Creuset, though none of the conversation is audible. Durandel turns off his computer displays, closes his eyes and leans back: softly asking himself if a different fate--or destiny--is possible.

Standing on the bridge of the Agamemnon-class Earth Federation warship "Hippolyta" rear-admiral Andrei Duskin and his crew salute the Bruges orbital station. A crew member presses a small button and the asteroid base shudders as numerous explosives detonate across its surface, destroying all of the military facilities. Duskin states that there will be no retreat. An officer asks the admiral if he intends to attack PLANT. Admiral Duskin says that if they were to attack PLANT itself they would be annihilated before they could achieve their revenge.

Duskin orders the Hippolyta to set course for Luna and informs them that they will merge forces with the Alliance military stationed on the moon and proceed to attack the new coordinator facilities that lie beyond the dark side of the moon. The crew simultaneously answers the admiral with an affirmative and the Hippolyta and it's fleet--a small battle group consisting of two other Agamemnon-class battleships and six Nelson-class destroyers engage their engines and proceed toward Luna.

On the bridge of the Chasseur de Têtes, Yzak grumbles about having lost sight of the fleeing Zala-loyalists. Dearka says he doubts they'll be able to do anything for a while, and suggests they head toward the new colony cluster for repairs and resupply. Yzak grudgingly agrees with Dearka, saying that it would be better for them to rest and resupply before finishing their mission. Dearka comments that maybe they'll be able to get a hold of a pair of WIZARD units as well. Yzak sits down in the command chair and closes his eyes as the two-remaining Joule-team Nazcas set sail for LaGrange-point two. Scars from the battle at Junon are still visible on the warships' hulls.

A brief narration describes the establishment of the colony-cluster at LaGrange-point 2, located beyond the dark side of the moon. Following the destruction of the Bloody Valentine War, millions of citizen on Earth felt they could no longer live on the planet. Both coordinators living in ORB and elsewhere who feared for their lives if they remained and naturals who were tired of the endless warfare on Earth wanted to leave the planet to begin new lives in space. PLANT, too, suffered a population boom as tens of thousands of soldiers from their former territories on Earth flooded back to space and the birth-rate increased. Because of this, PLANT, the United Emirates of ORB, the Pacific Islands Federation and several smaller nations joined together to construct a cluster of twenty new space-colonies. The colonies would exist as a single sovereign city-state governed by citizens of the colonies that had been elected by their peers. The new colony cluster was hoped to be a political state that would help bridge the divide between the Coordinators living in the PLANTs and the Naturals living on Earth.

The coalition opted to construct smaller O'Neil-style cylindrical colonies rather than the hourglass-shaped PLANTs because although they were weaker, they were also much cheaper and faster to build. The first 5 colonies constructed at L2--Geranea, Athens, Thermon, Hestiaea and Delphi--had been completed by CE 74, and the remaining fifteen were completed the following year and colonized to 30 of their maximum capacity. In CE 76 PLANT supported a proposition by ORB to quadruple the amount of colonies at L2, constructing sixty new O'Neil-type colonies simultaneously in anticipation of the coming population-boom and increased space-migration. The first of this new-wave of colonies to be competed, Corinth Colony, is the nearly 100 finished and migration to it is already under way. The majority of the financial burden had been shouldered by PLANT and ORB, though a great deal of the raw material for the endeavor was provided by the mining organizations of the asteroid belt--many anonymous contributions are rumored to have come from the newly-reformed Jupiter Corporation, which has strong ties to PLANT's Chairman Durandel.

A large fleet of Earth-Federation warships approach the Corinth-colony. Only one of the giant mirrored panels is completed and the interior of the colony is sparsely populated. In the darkness of space, tiny lights can be seen inside the cylinder marking the habitation within. On the bridge of the Hippolyta, rear-admiral Andrei Duskin glares at the image of the colony in front of him while frantic transmissions from the colony request his fleet identify itself and refrain from hostile action. Duskin orders his crew to begin jamming all communication and for the fleet to approach the colony at combat-velocity.

The Minerva receives a direct communique for Chairman Durandel. Talia asks him if the council has new orders for her, and Durandel tells her that remaining Earth Alliance space forces have begun attacking vessels belonging to PLANT, as well as ships of ORB and the New Scandinavian Kingdom in space. The majority of the EA fleet has gathered at Luna and appears to be preparing for an all-out attack against the new colonies being constructed an L2. The Minerva is thereby ordered to make best-possible speed for Corinth-colony to assist the Joule-team with repelling the attack. Talia salutes the Chairman and accepts his orders; Durandel formally thanks her, and then smiles gently and asks her to be careful

Yzak shouts in surprise on the bridge of the Chasseur de Têtes as a crewman announces that a large EA fleet has been visually confirmed approaching the nearly-completed Corinth-colony at combat speed. Nearly 40 enemy warships are confirmed. Yzak asks how long it will take the Joule-team Nazcas to intercept the EA fleet and is told they will be in-range in sixteen minutes. Another crewman informs Yzak that all of their communications are being jammed; Yzak orders a message buoy to be released from the Chasseur de Têtes broadcasting a constant SOS on all frequencies. Yzak then orders all pilots to their mobile suits and tells his crew that they must fight off the EA fleet long enough to the local garrisons to reinforce. Yzak and Dearka head toward the hangar and Dearka comments that it's just their luck to be forced into such a one-sided battle. Yzak smiles and says that's what makes in interesting.

On the bridge of the Hippolyta Andrei Duskin is informed of the two Nazca-class vessels approaching the fleet. An officer remarks that ZAFT must really be desperate to send such a paltry force against them, and Duskin replies that coordinators are cunning beasts and should not be underestimated. Duskin order three squadrons of mobile-suits to break-away from the main fleet and intercept the Joule-team.

Yzak and Dearka launch from the Chasseur de Têtes in their ZAKUs and are followed by the remaining Joule-team GuAIZ units. A trio a emerald energy beams slice through the darkness of space at the ZAFT mobile suits. Yzak orders the squad to break up as a half dozen Earth-Federation mobile suits--Long Daggers--fly past at full speed.

The Joule team breaks off and engages the EA suits in a crude facsimile of ancient dogfighting; spinning and looping around each other as the giant humanoid contraptions gun each other down. After a few minutes of fighting the attacking Long Daggers are all-but destroyed and the handful of remaining suits flee back toward their main fleet. Yzak asks for a damage report and is told that three GuAIZs were destroyed, but all three of the pilots survived. Yzak breathes a sigh of relief and then orders the Joule-team onward to attack the overwhelmingly superior EA fleet.

Admiral Duskin is informed of the Joule-teams success and the complete annihilation of the EA squadrons sent to destroy them. Duskin states that they fulfilled their objective in distracting the ZAFT forces and orders all ships in the fleet to commence their attack. The Hippolyta and it's fleet begin firing barrage after barrage of their cannons at the Corinth colony. Over one-hundred beams pierce out at the cylinder, cutting through the transparent steel facade and obliterating the docking facilities. Dozens of small civilian and construction craft loitering outside the colony are also destroyed in the barrage. A few beams manage to pierce through the "skin" of the colony and breach the interior. Civilians scream in horror as beams of energy melt through the "ground" and fly skyward. Watching the assault from a distance, Yzak curses. Yzak drives the thrusters of the ZAKU to their maximum limit, crashing into one of the retreating Long-Dagger he throws his heat-hawk at another, destroying it, while Dearka snipes the Long-Dagger Yzak rammed from a distance.

From the bridge of the Hippolyta, small tears well up in the eyes of Admiral Duskin as he watches the fierce artillery-fire directed at Corinth intensify.

**Episode 07 - END**

Next Episode: Land Of Chaos


	8. Episode 8 Land Of Chaos

**Episode 08: Land Of Chaos**

Yzak's ZAKU fires off a trio of beam-shots in rapid succession at an EA Long Dagger; each shot misses. The muzzle of the beam rifle sputters and ejects trace amounts of ignited gas as it exhausts its energy supply. Yzak curses and removes the disc-shaped energy pack and flings it off into space, replacing it with a spare held under the ZAKUs shield. Taking advantage over the brief respite, the Long Daggers pull back toward the main Earth Federation fleet. A pair of Nelson-class Destroyers break off from the attack on the Corinth Colony and approach the two battered Joule-team Nazcas weapons-firing. A battleship-class beam cannon grazes the side of the Chasseur de Têtes port engine, melting the armor into a lump of charred steel. Yzak curses again and glances at the colony: large plates of Corinth are being forced outward by the pressure of the escaping gases and the port facilities are an unrecognizable mess--but Corinth retains it's basic form. The Long-Dagger squadrons turn around as they approach the two Nelson-class warships and slowly advance on the Joule-team. Yzak flies his ZAKU back to the Chasseur de Têtes and orders the rest of the Joule-team to follow his lead. Surveying the situation, Yzak decides to move his forces inside the colony cylinder now that most of the air inside is emptied. He tells his subordinates that they need to keep the EA fleet distracted here long enough to keep them from attacking the other colonies.

On board a small shuttle approaching Earth, an aide informs Durandel that an Alliance fleet has been confirmed at the Corinth colony and has initiated combat operations. Durandel looks worried and asks how long it will be before the Minerva and any reinforcements will take to arrive and is told it will be at least thirty minutes. Outside the shuttle two full squadrons of new-model BABI mobile suits prepare large sleds in preparation for atmospheric entry. The BABIs gather in a circular formation around Durandel's shuttle as it begins its descent to Earth.

As the Minerva approaches the EA fleet shelling Corinth, Arthur complains that they would have made it there faster if the ship didn't slow down to keep pace with the ships from Jachin Due on the bridge. Talia ignores him and asks for a damage analysis of the colony. An officer responds that Corinth's rotation speed has halved and the colony interior has ruptured. Talia stares at the flickering lights of beam fire in the distance and wonders why the EA fleet is still firing at the ruined colony. Arthur comments that at least the colony was only partially-settled while Talia orders the crew to battle stations

Inside the colony Yzak's Joule-team exchanges fire with Alliance daggers on the "floor" of the colony while the two Nazcas exchange fire with the numerically superior EA fleet through the various holes in the colony, using the remaining plates of Corinth's cylinder to shield themselves from the enemy barrage. The ground underneath Dearka's ZAKU shakes violently and Dearka leaps his mobile suit backwards just as a beam of superheated gas bursts through the "ground" and streams upward. Hitting the ground hard Dearka curses and wonders how much longer they will be able to hold out. One Joule-team GuAIZ riddles an attacking Long-Dagger with bullet holes while another sacrifices itself to keep a beam-cannon blast from destroying the Chasseur de Têtes.

The Impulse, Saviour and Gaia Gundams launch from the Minerva and join the rest of the ZAFT mobile-suit squadrons as they launch from the collected Nazca-class high-speed carriers. Meyrin exclaims that there's a battle going on inside the ruined colony. Talia surmises that the Joule-team is still fighting and quietly thanks Yzak for keeping the EA fleet anchored at Corinth. Talia then give the order for all ZAFT ships to attack the enemy at maximum-possible speed.

Shinn and Lunamaria break away from the main body of ZAFT's forces and rush toward the Alliance fleet. Lunamaria takes out a trio of attacking EA Daggers while Shinn focuses his targeting sights on one of the Agamemnon-class Battleships A pair of Long Daggers approach the Impulse Gundam and Lunamaria destroys one of them with her beam saber, but fails to destroy the other. Shinn shouts triumphantly and the twin beam-cannons mounted on the Impulse Gundam's backpack swivel down and forward under the mobile suit's arms and unleash a brilliant flash on energy. Twin beams lance outward from the Impulse and pierce through the attacking Long Dagger and continue to penetrate the bridge of the Agamemnon-class destroying it in a magnificent display of pink flame.

As the EA fleet retreats from the ZAFT reinforcements a pair of ORB's Izumo-class attack carriers painted the neutral gold color-scheme of the new autonomous colony cluster close from their intended escape-trajectory. Admiral Duskin sighs and wishes he had been able to cause more damage; but at this point it is better to die than live on. Sandwiched between the ORB and ZAFT forces, Duskin orders his fleet to stand its ground and fight to the last man. The Izumos each launch a pair of golden Strike II Gundams and two full squadrons of M1b Astray units, which quickly join the ZAFT forces in battle.

Shinn, Rey and Luna continue to attack the Earth Alliance vessels, supported by a large quantity of other ZAFT mobile suits. Andrei Duskin's flagship, the Hippolyta, turns upward to direct the full force of it's cannons at the attacking ZAFT forces. Lunamaria declares that she will take out the enemy's head and flies off at the Hippolyta after transforming the Saviour-Gundam into its mobile-armor configuration.

Shinn fires his last missile salvo at a group of Long-Daggers engaged in combat with an ace's custom-colored orange GuAIZ. The Long-Daggers break off from the GuAIZ and advance on Shinn. The pilot of the orange GuAIZ, Heine Westenfluss, wipes the sweat from his forehead and retreats from the battlefield. Shinn destroys one of the Long-Daggers with a shot from his beam rifle, but is unable to avoid the second Dagger as it cleaves the Impulse Gundam's right forearm in half with a beam saber Shinn pulls out a beam javelin from the barrel of the Gundam's right-side beam cannon and thrusts it straight through the cockpit of the attacking Dagger killing the pilot.

On the bridge of the Hippolyta Admiral Andrei Duskin watches stoically as Lunamaria's Saviour mobile-armor approaches the ship at high-speed and transforms into a mobile suit just in time to land on the Hippolyta's hull. Duskin closes his eyes and says he has no regrets as the Saviour's twin beam cannons swing over the mobile-suits armored shoulders and decapitate the Hippolyta's bridge. Lunamaria jumps off the EA flagship as it disappears in a cloud of flame. Meanwhile Shinn has attached his two beam javelins together to create a double-beam javelin which he spins furiously in his left hand as he cuts through three strike-daggers one after another. Watching Shinn's skill from a short distance behind the Impulse, Rey is impressed at how much Shinn has improved as a pilot since they all graduated.

Shinn flies at the last Agamemnon-class battleship and cleaves through the center of the vessel's hull with his double-beam javelin before rapidly thrusting the javelin at the ships bridge. The last Agamemnon shudders as it is blasted back from the fury of Shinn's attack and Rey finished it off with a rapid volley of energy-fire from his beam rifle. As the last Agamemnon-class warship explodes, the remaining EA Nelson-class vessels stop firing their weapons and do nothing. Lunamaria cuts through the torso of a 105 Dagger and, looking at the passive EA fleet wonders if the Alliance is going to surrender. Gasping for breath, Shinn asks Rey if the battle is over. The remaining Alliance warships simultaneously self-destruct stunning the defending ZAFT and ORB fleets.

**Episode 08 - END**

Next Episode: The Oracle At Delphi


	9. Episode 9 The Oracle At Delphi

**Episode 09: The Oracle At Delphi**

Outside the charred shell of the Corinth Colony, Shinn, Rey and Luna are stunned as the remaining EA warships suddenly halt their attack. Unsure of how to react, the ZAFT pilots pause, expecting the Earth Alliance fleet to surrender. In a rapid, nearly simultaneous, succession the remaining Alliance warships self-destruct, scattering debris across the battlefield. Shinn watches the remaining Nelson-class EA warships destroy themselves and is shocked; he wonders why they chose to end their lives so abruptly. The remaining EA mobile suits, mostly 105-type and Long-type Dagger units, however, continue to fight. A pair of 105 Daggers approach the motionless impulse at full-speed; Rey positions his Gaia-Gundam in front of the Impulse and cleaves one of the attacking suits in half with his twin beam sabers and then rapidly turns his suit around to blast the second suit with the Gaia's head-vulcans. Rey shouts at Shinn that the battle isn't over yet. Shinn shakes himself back into action and punches the attacking Dagger with the Gundam's clenched fist: the metal "fingers" are smashed together and the Impulse Gundam's hand is left a deformed lump. As the force of the impact knocks the 105 Dagger back, Rey shoots his beam-rifle at the enemy's back, frowning slightly as the armor surrounding the cockpit melts and the suit explodes.

At the other end of the battlefield Lunamaria Hawke, along with a pair of GuAIZ units belonging to the Joule-team, engages a half-dozen EA Long-Daggers in close-range combat. The GuAIZ' quickly demolish two of the Long-Daggers and Lunamaria smirks, saying she can't afford to be outdone yet, and fires her Saviour Gundam's twin-heavy beam cannons and beam rifle at the same time, simultaneously striking down three enemy mobile suits. Luna smiles, flush with the feeling of victory and rushes at the last remaining Dagger with her beam-saber As she swings the beam saber at the Dagger's central torso the Dagger's pilot drives the mobile suit into a steep downward dive, retaliating by blasting off the Saviour's left leg with its beam rifle. As the Saviour is incapacitated the Joule-team GuAIZs rush in and destroy the Long Dagger. Lunamaria sighs and says that the enemy was just a little bit more skilled than she thought, and retreats back to the Minerva.

The Strike II Gundams and Astray units aid the ZAFT forces in mopping up the remaining EA mobile suits and fighters. An ORB squadron-leader piloting a Strike II, comments on how terrible it was that the EA space-forces destroyed a civilian colony; he sighs as a pair of Astrays help Dearka's ZAKU destroy one of the last Alliance mobile suits.

Lunamaria lands her one-legged Gundam on the catapult deck of the Minerva clumsily, barely able to maintain balance. On the bridge, Talia surveys the battlefield: debris from the demolished colony and destroyed warships is strewn about the area recklessly. Arthur informs her that all of the enemy forces have been annihilated and Talia orders the Minerva to launch signal-flares to alert its mobile-suits to return to the ship.

As the ORB mobile suits withdraw to their respective Izumo-class carriers, Yzak slumps back into his ZAKU's cockpit panting heavily. After taking the time to catch his breath, Yzak returns to the Chasseur de Têtes. Dearka and three GuAIZ mobile suits return to ship as well, though all four suits are heavily damaged. Dearka's ZAKU bears the worst injury, having lost it's head, entire left arm and most of it's skirt-armor What armor was still left on the ZAKU was charred black from countless beam-rifle hits. On the bridge of the Chasseur de Têtes, Yzak is informed that the Minerva and all other ZAFT vessels are to immediately proceed to the nearest completed colony--Delphi--for repair and resupply. Yzak sits down in the captain's chair and sighs, too tired to curse, and says he doubts they'll be having any new missions for a while. Dearka approaches and says that it's to be expected, considering the casualties the Joule-team suffered, but at least they'll get some leave out of it. Yzak orders to Chasseur de Têtes to enter formation with the Minerva and follow it to Delphi.

In the briefing room of the Minerva, Talia Gladys addresses the three Gundam pilots. Talia praises Shinn, Rey and Luna for their exemplary performance in battle and singles out Luna for her particular achievements in the last battle. Rey asks if she thinks they'll be fighting against the Alliance space forces any time soon, and Talia honestly states that she does not know: most of the EA's space forces were present at the battle of Corinth, and those are all gone, but there are other Alliance military units still in space. Talia continues to say that with no stable communication with Earth, all of the Alliance space-forces are in a state of disarray--it's impossible to determine what course of action they might choose to follow on their own. Lunamaria asks Talia if that means PLANT and the Earth Alliance are really at war with one another again, and Talia responds that it does not. She tells the pilots that the actions of the Earth's forces at Corinth can be judged as nothing other than renegade activity. Just as the actions of the Zala-loyalists at Junon were contrary to the feelings of PLANT, they must assume that the actions of the EA fleet at Corinth, too, ran contrary to the Alliance's wishes. Upset of the reminder of their failure at Junon, Shinn, Rey and Luna are silent for a moment.

Lunamaria is the first to speak up, asking the captain what the Minerva will do next. Talia responds that once the Minerva reaches Delphi they will most likely be there for some time in order to be fully repaired and resupplied. She reminds the pilots that even though two of the Minerva's ZAKUs were given to the Joule-team, the Minerva still has three other units without pilots. Talia laughs slightly and says that she never expected the Minerva's maiden voyage to be quite the eventful. Through the darkness of space, the Minerva approaches the central docking bay of the Delphi colony. The massive ship folds it's "wings" close to its hull and lowers itself onto a giant landing-pad that slowly descends as the ship lands. The platform comes to a halt and four large clamps latch onto the ships hull, holding it into place.

On the Chasseur de Têtes, now docked inside of Delphi alongside the Minerva, Yzak complains that the O'Neil-type colonies are too damned cramped. Dearka laughs and says that he had better get used to it. Outside the Minerva, a ZAFT pilot wearing the red uniform enters the ship. Upon entering, the pilot is stopped by security personnel and asked to identify himself; the pilot removes his helmet; Heine Westenfluss snaps a curt salute and smiles, saying that he heard the Minerva was short on pilots.

Shinn, Rey, Lunamaria and Meyrin all disembark from the Minerva wearing civilian clothes. Luna sighs and says she's stuck taking her little sister shopping. Meyrin pouts and pinches Lunamaria's side making her yelp in surprise Rey and Shinn laugh. Luna ignores her sister and asks Shinn what he's going to do with his time off; Shinn says he doesn't know. Shinn, in turn, asks Rey if he has any plans and Rey responds that there is a place he wants to visit. Shinn asks if he can tag along and Rey states that it wouldn't be a problem.

As they leave the tram that carried them down to the colony from the spaceport at the center of the colony, Luna and Meyrin leave to board a public E-Car. Shinn asks Rey if it's a long walk to the place he wants to visit; Rey says it should be very near to where they are. After a following Rey in silence for a while, Shinn groans and asks Rey if it's much further. Rey says they will be there soon. After walking even further through the colony without respite Shinn gets more and more irritated. As they leave the commercial area of the colony and enter a more rural area Shinn asks Rey where it is that they are going anyway. Rey points at a narrow gray structure pointing up over the treetops in front of them like a stone needle and labels it as his destination.

Shinn and Rey approach the structure and Shinn notes that it is a giant marble obelisk, set into a wide foundation. Shinn asks Rey if it's some kind of memorial and Rey replies that it is, of a sort. As the two pilots approach the structure a tall woman with long-brown hair approaches them and bows respectfully. She looks at Rey and stifles a gasp, but quickly removes any hint of recognition from her face as Rey shakes his head slightly. The Woman welcomes Shinn and Rey to the Kreuze memorial, and introduces herself as Meere Campbell. Shinn asks her if the obelisk is some kind of memorial, and Meere nods and says that it is called the Kreuze Memorial. Shinn walks up to the obelisk and slowly walks in a circle around it, examining the marble structure from ever angle. Shinn then proceeds to walk around the granite foundation examining the floor; not seeing any writing to identify the monument he turns to Meere and asks her what it's for.

Meere smiles and says that the obelisk was one of the first structures built on the colony to commemorate the work of Kreuze da Flaga. Before Shinn can ask who he his, Meere informs him that Kreuze da Flaga was a professor at Janus-1 in the third decade of the Cosmic Era. Kreuze worked as a teacher, but his true calling was philosophy and he is credited with several major theories regarding the purpose of coordinators and the true meanings behind the words of the first Coordinator, George Glen. Shinn shrugs and says that he's never heard of the guy; Meere smiles and says that when PLANT was formed as a sovereign state, governed and populated solely by coordinators, Kreuze da Flaga's writings were forbidden. Meanwhile, Rey leans against a rail at the edge of the foundation and stares at the marble obelisk silently.

Shinn asks why PLANT disliked Kreuze's writings and Meere tells him that the core of Kreuze's ideology was that coordinators were destined to facilitate an "awakening" of mankind--they were meant to _coordinate_ the transition of mankind from one state of being to the next. From Homo-Sapiens to something new. Such an ideology meant that coordinators were a temporary-existence. PLANT feared this as it had been founded under the idea that coordinators themselves were the new breed of humanity. Shinn asks why it matters so much what coordinators think they are; people are people, he says, regardless of the circumstances of birth. Meere smiles and says that Shinn is correct. Meere continues to say that according to Kreuze da Flaga's ideas, the new humanity would be an enlightened race, free from violence and war.

At these words Shinn recalls seeing the Freedom Gundam fighting in the skies above Onogoro Port, the Freedom hunches down in mid-air and cuts through the knees of an EA Dagger. The lower-legs of the mobile suit explode and the upper part of the Dagger falls down, crashing onto the refugee ship with Shinn's family. In the cold choppy waters below, Shinn sees his sister cry out for him as pieces of shrapnel fly up from the deck and into her flesh. Mayu's eyes widen for an instant in pain, and then disappear as she is consumed in a burst of flame. Shinn screams in his memory and through his teary eyes he sees the Freedom and Calamity continuing to battle above, oblivious to the carnage below. Shinn opens his eyes and clenches his fists, his former jocularity vanishing. Shinn snaps at Meere, telling her that such a thing is impossible. Humans are humans, he says. They fight, they kill, and they die. If some marvelous new breed of human being were to exist, all of the sacrifices, all of the death that had preceded it would be meaningless. Kreuze was nothing but an ineffectual, foolish idealist.

Shinn shouts at Meere angrily, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. Shinn tells Meere it's impossible The world she's describing is no more than a deranged fantasy. Meere smiles softly, looking at Shinn with a faint pity. Wouldn't it be nice, she asks him, if humans could one day live in a world without war? A world where mobile suits were unnecessary? Meere asks Shinn if he pilots a mobile suit because he truly enjoys fighting and killing, or if he does it because he wants to protect something. Wouldn't he be much happier, Meere asks Shinn, if he didn't have to fight at all? Do not, she continues to ask, all soldiers think such thoughts? It may be foolish idealism, she says, but it has a certain charm to it.

Shinn clenches his teeth but says nothing. No one wants war, Meere says. No one wants to die; no one wants to kill. It's possible, she says--it's probable--that one day human beings will outgrow their violent tendencies. It's also possible that humanity will destroy itself entirely. Meere asks Shinn which of the two options he would prefer to believe.

Shinn says nothing and looks up at the obelisk. Meere apologizes to Shinn for upsetting him and bows, and then states that perhaps he would prefer to be alone at the moment, excusing herself. Meere steals one last, quick glance at Rey before descending from the stone platform.

Shinn backs away from the obelisk towards Rey, wiping the moisture from his eyes. He sees his sister, Mayu, once more. Her body being torn apart violently. Shinn vividly recalls the agony expressed in her eyes the moment she died. Haltingly, he asks Rey if it could have been avoided. Was there any way that all the senseless death could have been circumvented?

After a brief pause Rey shakes his head "no" to comfort Shinn and states that all humans, no matter how miserable their lives may be, always want to live--even if they must take the lives of others to do so. If mobile suits did not exist, humans would fight with guns. If guns did not exist, humans would fight with knives and clubs. Rey reasons that if no tools existed, and each human owned nothing more than that with which he or she was born, we would then kill each other with our bare hands, tearing the flesh from our enemies intimately. Shinn frowns at Rey's words and tries to reply, but he cannot deny the logic behind Rey's statement.

Shinn steps forward to touch the obelisk silently, running his hand up the marble structure. He turns to Rey and that Rey's words might be true, but it would be wonderful if there was hope for something better. Rey smiles and walks up to Shinn, nodding his head in agreement.

**Episode 09 - END**

Next Episode: To Earth


	10. Episode 10 To Earth

**Episode 10: To Earth**

Pulling back from an empty starfield, the silhouette of a helmeted man emerges; gazing silently at the dark expanse. Another silhouette approaches the man; this one a young woman with shoulder-length hair. She leans on the man's shoulder and whispers a few short words into his ear. The girl than leaves, and the helmeted man exits after pausing to stare into starfield a bit more.

Stars swirl by at abruptly-changing speeds and angles. Up, down, left, right--diagonal. Amidst the flowing maelstrom of darkness and tiny swirling pinpricks of light, a small spacecraft emerges; painted entirely black. It is similar in design to an atmospheric fighter plane: it has an elongated, pointed hull braced on either side with large triangular wings slanted downward. The rear of the craft slopes upward to house a large rocket-like propellant nozzle. Dotted around the rear of the craft in a haphazard pattern are five barbed gold antennae protruding at various degrees. The large blister at the top-front of the craft houses a distinctive mono-eye optical sensor shining green amidst the unforgiving blackness of space. The green eye swivels quickly from left to right before re-aligning itself as do a handful of smaller mono-eye sensors located all over the craft; the thrust-nozzle flares blue and the craft speeds ahead. Two more identical craft appear and the three of them fly toward a small comet, using a myriad of tiny thruster located throughout the respective fuselages to avoid the chunks of ice and dust particles flying out in twin streams from the comet's main body.

The three craft easily approach the comet and then fly in front of it, quickly maneuvering themselves so that each one is pointed directly at the comet's main body. Bright flashes of green light blast out from the "nose" of each craft, similar to the discharge of a typical beam rifle but far less controlled. The beam-discharge melts the nose of one craft to slag, and it falls back into the comet's upper tail and is quickly destroyed. The second is destroyed by the explosion of the comet itself, but the third emerges unharmed, and flies away as the comet becomes nothing more than a very, very fast cloud of dust. The third craft sets itself on a straight course and heads toward a pair of blinking red-and-blue lights in the distance.

Inside the autonomous colony Delphi, Meere Campbell hums to herself as she sweeps the stone steps leading up to Kreuze monument. A man wearing a black suit and sunglasses approaches her quietly and whispers something into her ear before stepping aside. Meere turns and smiles and asks the man if it's "that time already?" and the two leave.

A trio of ZAFT Nazca-class warships lower themselves into a shallow orbit, holding position just above the Earth's gravity well. The captain of one of the Nazca's asks if there has been any word from Earth yet, but is told that there is still no communication. The captain sighs and says he doesn't like it. An officer standing behind the captain asks him if something might have happened to the Chairman. Before the captain can respond, an crewman at the front of the bridge announces that an ORB space shuttle is approaching the Nazcas from the Earth broadcasting a PLANT identification code.

Inside the hangar of a ZAFT Nazca-class high-speed carrier, Supreme Chairman Gilbert Durandel disembarks from the ORB Union's shuttle. The ZAFT captain and his crew snap salutes at Durandel as he walks toward the hangar-exit. The captain falls into step beside the chairman. Durandel orders the captain to establish a laser-link with Aprillius immediately; he is going to call an emergency meeting of the High Council.

Walking through a metropolitan area in Delphi, Shinn groans and asks Rey why he had to waste their leave going to such a boring place. Rey laughs and apologizes. A private black ele-car drives past the two ZAFT pilots with Meere sitting in the rear staring passively out the window. Rey and Meere make eye contact for a moment, and the car drives away. A stand of clothing and other assorted goods crashes to the ground nearby and Shinn turns to see Lunamaria Hawke helping her sister up from the wreckage. Meyrin Hawke bows deeply to the vendor and apologizes sincerely three times; lifting an impressive array of bags from the sidewalk.

Luna presses her hands against her head and complains that it's because Meyrin always buys way too much. Meyrin laughs her sister's complaints aside as she struggles to see through the colorful boxes and bags wrapped around her head. The two of them then notice Rey and Shinn watching them, amused. Lunamaria chastises Shinn and Rey for laughing at her instead of helping out, and Meyrin collapses under the weight of her many purchases a second time. Shinn bursts out laughing, much louder than before, but then rushes to help Meyrin after she doesn't get back up.

Meere Campbell escorts Talia and Arthur into a large windowed room of a large, modern building located high on Delphi's "mountain." Meere asks the two ZAFT officers to have a seat and a large flexible screen descends on one of the bare walls. A ZAFT admiral appears on the screen; dozens of officials, officers and adjutants rush to and fro behind the admiral with great haste. Talia, amazed at the flurry of activity asks the admiral why it's so hectic. The admiral explains that the PLANT supreme council just finished an emergency meeting and sighs. The admiral comments that it's going to be a lot of work, and before Talia can ask him what he is referring to the Admiral straightens up and states that the Minerva has new orders.

The admiral explains that the Minerva is to depart immediately for Earth, and upon entry into the planets atmosphere they are to proceed post-haste to the nation of ORB in preparation for the arrival of relief-supplies and aid workers from PLANT. The admiral tells Talia that in order to increase her influence on the planet she has been promoted to FAITH. Talia is stunned at the news and before she can react the admiral wishes her Godspeed and ends the communication. Meere smiles and greets Talia once more, this time escorting her out of the room. The two women shake hands and Talia tells Meere that it was an honor to meet her; Meere thanks Talia and informs her that the Minerva is already prepared for launch.

Shinn, Rey, Luna and Meyrin rush aboard the Minerva. Lunamaria asks why their leave was canceled so suddenly and Shinn complains that he didn't have time to do anything fun. Rey apologizes to Shinn again and helps Meyrin carry her things into the ship. As the Minerva departs from the Delphi colony, Meere observes. Meere says to herself that she's heard that the Earth is a very beautiful place and smiles; her smile then disappears and she wonders if the Minerva will be all right.

On the Minerva's bridge Talia orders the Minerva to set course for Earth at best-possible speed. Arthur grins and says that he's excited to see what the fastest ship in the fleet is capable of doing and Meyrin takes the time to congratulate Talia on her promotion before heading to her station. The Minerva clears Delphi's port and sets sail for the distant Earth.

**Episode 10 - END**

Next Episode: Forest Of Doubt


	11. Episode 11 Forest Of Doubt

**Episode 11: Forest Of Doubt**

The air surrounding the Minerva burns red as the ship descends into the Earth's atmosphere; Shinn, Rey, Luna, Heine and two other ZAFT pilots clutch the armrests of their chairs in the briefing room as the ship shudders violently. On the bridge, Arthur informs Talia that both pilots and mobile suits are prepped and read for launch as soon as the Minerva lands. The vessels suddenly stops shaking as it approaches the planet's surface--numerous powerful thrusters on the bottom of the Minerva fire, gradually decreasing the ships rate of acceleration

The Minerva lurches to the side as a missile streaks through the gray sky and slams into the prow of the ship. Two more missiles streak past the Minerva, detonating in the empty sky above the ship as it continues to descend. On the bridge, Talia demands to know who's attacking them; Meyrin states that the level of interference is far too high for them to pick up anything on sensors. Irritated, Talia barks that they will have to look for the enemy visually. Arthur lets out a startled gasp and points at a handful of tiny gray-and-blue dots rushing towards the Minerva from the sky below. Meyrin enlarges the image to reveal a half-dozen Earth-Alliance mobile suits--Windams to be precise--outfitted for atmospheric flight, along with several squadrons of skygrasper aerospace fighters.

The enemy fighters break ahead of the Windams and dive-bomb the Minerva, each fighter launching four heavy missiles before breaking off. The ship rocks under the bombardment; Talia orders the Minerva to extend its wings to slow the ship's descent and provide a stable firing-platform; she then orders Lunamaria to launch in defense of the ship--Shinn and Rey are to provide backup, while Heine and the other ZAKU pilots are to remain on standby. Lunamaria Hawke launches in her red-colored Saviour Gundam, quickly transforming the craft into its mobile-armor configuration, and flies after the nearest attacking aerospace fighter. Shinn and Rey Jump from the hangar doors and land on the Minerva's two opposing wings, struggling to keep their Gundams balanced in the high wind.

Lunamaria quickly destroys a trio of skygraspers with the Saviour's twin-heavy beam cannons, and Rey scores a quick kill as well. Shinn, however, has difficulty keeping the mobile suit steady enough in the high wind to aim accurately. After Lunamaria claims a fourth fighter, the skygraspers withdraw--Luna exclaims that no one can outrun her, and flies after them. The Windams enter range of the Minerva and begin their attack. Shinn and Rey do their best to defend against the onslaught, but Shinn still cannot steady his Gundam enough to shoot accurately. Cursing in frustration, Shinn tosses his beam rifle aside in favor of a pair of small beam sabers, and jumps off of the Minerva at one of the attacking Windam. Caught off guard, the Windam pilot is unable to react as Shinn drives a beam saber through the enemy's cockpit up to the hilt. The Windam falls back, a molten hole running through its torso, and plummets downward before exploding in a stream of light.

Lunamaria destroys the last of the skygraspers and flies further away from the Minerva to engage a pair of Windams. On the bridge, Talia orders Luna to get back to the ship; she is fighting too recklessly. Meyrin frowns at her sisters and Arthur states that the Minerva is unable to contact the Saviour. Meanwhile, Shinn fights desperately to keep the Impulse Gundam aloft; firing all of the mobile suit's thrusters to their maximum capacity, Shinn makes his way toward the Minerva.

The Last two Windams approach the undefended port Wing opposite of Rey's position and fire a concentrate barrage of Missiles, breaking through the Minerva's armor and blasting dozens of large holes in the wing. The high winds of the upper atmosphere then help to tear the Minerva's wing from the main hull, leaving a short-lived trail of metal fragments and smoke as the wing falls down from the ship and crashes onto the surface. The Minerva veers to the side violently and Talia orders all mobile suits to return to the ship in preparation for an emergency landing.

Shinn boosts toward the two Windams, ramming one from behind and grabbing onto it with the Impulse Gundam's arms. As the two mobile suits plummet down, Shinn slices the Windam in half with a beam saber and then tries to boost upwards to the Minerva, which is now veering wildly off-course due to the damage sustained. Lunamaria flies the Saviour into the Minerva's hangar at high speed, transforming the mobile-armor back into a mobile suit at the last possible moment. Rey's Gaia is being locked into place at one end of the hangar; Luna wonders if Shinn was shot down. Shinn tries to reach the Minerva, but the Impulse Gundam's thrusters are not strong enough. With one of its wings damaged in the fight, the last enemy Windam struggles to stay aloft. The pilot, clad in civilian clothes, spots the Impulse Gundam flailing below. Blood streaming down the side of his face and smoke filling up the cockpit, the civilian pilot boosts downward to the Impulse in a sharp spiral, ramming into the ZAFT Gundam just as his Windam explodes.

The explosion sends the Impulse Gundam reeling. Shinn's head slams against the front of the cockpit and Shinn momentarily loses consciousness. The distance between the Minerva and the Impulse Gundam continues to increase, and without Shinn to pilot it, the Impulse Gundam begins to free-fall. Shinn awakes to see a mountainous coastline on the monitor getting larger and larger. Cursing, Shinn unstraps himself from the Impulse Gundam's pilot seat and puts on the emergency parachute stored in the rear of the cockpit. Shinn opens the hatch and presses a half-dozen buttons on a control panel rapidly, and then leaps away from the Gundam. Shinn's parachute opens almost immediately, and he seems to stop in mid-air as the Impulse falls. Just before it hits the ground, all of the thrusters on the Impulse Gundam fire simultaneously, greatly reducing the unmanned mobile suit's speed. The Impulse crashes into a hillside; the force of impact twists one of the Gundam's giant legs at an impossible angle and part of the "backpack" is destroyed along with the suit's left arm, but the Gundam is still more-or-less intact.

On the Minerva, now resting off the Thai coast, Lunamaria approaches Rey and asks him what happened to Shinn. Rey replies that Shinn tried to engage the enemy mobile suits in the air and was unable to return to the Minerva; he is currently listed as missing-in-action. Lunamaria grumbles and walks away; as she leaves the room Rey tells her that if she had paid more attention to her surroundings Shinn would not have needed to leave. Luna ignores him. On the Minerva's bridge, Talia asks if they can locate the fallen Impulse Gundam--Meyrin responds that they're picking up the Gundams IFF from a location thirty kilometers away. Talia asks if they can make it to the Gundam's location, but Arthur responds that the Minerva has sustained too much damage to conduct a search on its own.

Heine Westenfluss, alongside two other ZAKU pilots leave the Minerva's hangar and jump off the ship to the coastline; wading through the water as they climb to dry ground. Talia's face appears in a communication screen in front of Heine; Talia tells Heine that the ZAKU team is to split up and follow the coast south to recover the Impulse Gundam and its pilot. Heine then signals the other two ZAKU pilots and the begin their trek southward along the coast; the ZAKUs only have limited power, so their operational time is limited. Heine tells them to be as quick and efficient as possible.

In the territorial waters of the United Emirates of ORB, Cagalli Yula Atha walks through a narrow corridor on board the carrier Takemikazuchi followed by Yuuna Roma Seiran. Yuuna tells Cagalli it's too dangerous for her to leave ORB, and refers to her as "my honey". Cagalli's eyes twitch in irritation as she opens the door and enters the Takemikazuchi's bridge. Yuuna moves to follow her, but Cagalli pushes him back and tells him that civilians are not permitted on the bridge before closing the door in his face. Cagalli sighs, and then approaches the the captain of the vessel--Todaka. Cagalli wonders why the Minerva is so late, and Todaka replies that ORB surveillance recorded the Minerva engage in battle as it descended to Earth, and that the Minerva was forced off-course to make an emergency landing. Cagalli asks why she wasn't informed of the Minerva's situation earlier, and Todaka apologizes stating that he only became aware of it himself recently.

Cagalli asks Todaka where the Minerva landed, and he tells her it was last spotted descending near the former Republic of Burma. Cagalli curses, muttering under her breath that it just had to land in such a troublesome spot. Cagalli then orders Todaka to have the Takemikazuchi and its escort fleet set sail for the Andaman sea, saying that they cannot afford to have any delays; the Destiny Plan will be impossible to set into motion without the Minerva's assistance. Surprised, Todaka asks Cagalli what the Destiny Plan is. Cagalli looks at him, startled, and laughs nervously. She tells him that he didn't hear anything and then pointedly looks at a Strike II Gundam walking across the deck in front of a squadron of M1b Astray units, descending on one of the Takemikazuchi's deck-elevators. Cagalli asks Todaka how many of the new Strike-IIs are on the carrier. Todaka allows her to change the subject, informing Cagalli that as the Takemikazuchi is ORB's flagship, it has been assigned two full squadrons in addition to its normal complement of Astrays.

Lying face-down in mud, Shinn groans in pain as he tries to identify his surroundings. Realizing he is under his parachute, Shinn whips his arms about and tears it away. Leaving the chute on the ground, Shinn stands up and looks around. He is standing on an incline in a dense forest. Soft popping noises resonate in the distance. Shinn looks up; the sky is a dismal gray, tiny flickery patches of illumination flash once in a while inside the clouds as a result of the powerful electrical storms that now envelop the entire planet. Shinn removes his helmet and tosses it on the ground, walking uphill to try and find a better view of his surrounding.

The soft popping noises in the distance cease, and a dozen people clad in brown-and-tan militia gear run toward Shinn through the forest. Before he can react, one of the Men slams the butt of a rifle against Shinn's head, knocking him on the ground. Shinn groans and tries to lift himself up, but the man steps on Shinn's back, lowering the barrel of his rifle at Shinn's head. The others quickly arrange themselves in a circle around Shinn and aim their weapons at him. Shinn lifts his head to see what's happening around him and sighs. Going limp, Shinn reaches his arms around his head and surrenders himself.

**Episode 11 - END**

Next Episode: The Broken World


	12. Chapter 12 The Broken World

**Episode 12: The Broken World**

A Strike-II Gundam breaks down from the clouds and flies over the coastline. The pilot examines multiple screens that pop up and disappear on the monitor displaying enhanced zoomed-in images of the terrain below. The pilot presses a button and all of the small screens disappear save one, which expands to a much greater size; on the coast of the Andaman Sea, no more than a dozen kilometers north of Phuket Island, lies the Minerva, dead in the water. Because of the loss of one of its wings, the Minerva lies at an slight angle, smoke lazily pouring out of the side of the hull and into the sky. The Strike II descends and circles the Minerva in a lazy oval; the pilot visually confirming its ZAFT registry. The Strike II makes one final fly-by of the Minerva, ascends, and returns to the Takemikazuchi.

Shinn Asuka is led into a small camp in the forest-no more than a haphazard collection of tents-and is thrown to the ground, bound and gagged. He tries to lift himself into a sitting position, but his legs are bound together as well and he falls back down. The men that brought Shinn to the camp laugh derisively and walk past the captive ZAFT pilot. Shinn groans, and tries to lift himself again. This time, a young girl (appearing to be roughly 10 or 11 years of age) approaches Shinn and helps him shift his weight. Shinn starts to thank her, but she runs away without saying a word. Shinn leans his back against a tree and has a short flashback of his fight with the Windams. Shinn quietly calls himself an idiot, and asks himself how he's going to escape.

Shinn observes the small camp: all of the men carry automatic weaponry, some guns in better condition than others, and most of them are scarred or bandaged or injured in some other way. Contrary to what he expected from a military camp, most of the people Shinn saw were either women or children. A thin man holding a slightly-rusted AK-47 automatic rifle stands a few meters away from Shinn, watching his every move. Shinn sighs, and closes his eyes. In the center of the camp, near a small cooking fire, a trio of large, older men converse. One of them thinks they should let Shinn go because they don't want any trouble with ZAFT, the other toys with the idea of holding Shinn hostage and using him to get weapons, food and medical supplies. The third and shortest man, speaking with an air of authority the other two lack, speaks up and says that they will keep Shinn in the camp until ZAFT comes for him, if they come, and what happens to him will depend on the situation. The other two men bow their heads slightly in acquiescence

An old Alliance model Strike-Dagger steps out of the jungle and onto a rocky outcropping. Three short beams lance out from within the dense forest and strike the Dagger in the torso, melting through the armor and killing the pilot. The Dagger falls to its knees and then collapses on the ground with a thundering crash. A single ZAKU-prototype mobile suit exits the forest and stands on the same rocky outcropping the Dagger had been, and rotates it's large pink mono-eye sensor back and forth to get a good survey of the area. Inside the cockpit, Heine Westenfluss wipes sweat from his forehead and sighs, complaining that the jungle is too humid. The ZAKU's foot kicks at the downed Dagger, and Heine wonders what the Alliance military is doing in the middle of the jungle. From his position above the tree-canopy, Heine spots a pair of Daggers, painted dark green-and-brown to match the terrain, move down the slope of the hill toward the coast. One of the Daggers spots the second ZAKU and opens fire. Before the ZAFT pilot can respond, the two Daggers fire off a half-dozen shots, cutting through the ZAKU's left shoulder, severing the arm, and incinerating several nearby trees.

Trying desperately to escape, the ZAKU boosts upward and tries to fly backward in the air, but is hit in the lower-chest region and crashes into the dense forest. The two Daggers approach the incapacitated ZAKU, but a pair of short beam-blasts destroy the head of the first Dagger, and a beam-tomahawk penetrates all the way through the second Dagger's torso from behind. Heine pulls his beam-tomahawk out from the Dagger and angles the barrel of his beam rifle at the cockpit hatch of the first Dagger just as the pilot emerges with his hands up. Rather than a traditional pilot-suit, the Dagger's pilot is clad in an archaic olive-drab uniform. Heine wonders what the Dagger pilots were thinking, to fight in such an unmanageable place, and looks up at the perpetually-gray sky above.

A tiny green light trailing smoke streaks up from a point east of Heine's position, igniting and expanding into a signal flare. Heine fires his beam rifle three times, destroying both of the Dagger's arms and one of its legs before shouting at the enemy pilot to leave. As the Dagger's pilot flees, Heine opens up his ZAKU's cockpit hatch and shouts at the allied pilot, now struggling to extricate his one-armed mobile suit from the dense foliage, ordering him to return to the Minerva and inform them to head to their current position to recover the Impulse Gundam and its pilot. Heine then helps the other ZAKU stand, and watches it fly back to the Minerva before leaping above the trees and making his way to the source of the signal-flare.

A long line of officers snap salutes and Cagalli Yula Atha as she leads Talia Gladys across the deck of ORB's flagship, the carrier Takemikazuchi. Captain Todaka orders a large company of engineers to help with repairs to the Minerva, and to provide the ZAFT vessel with any additional resources they need for repairs. Talia looks across the narrow gap of sea separating the Takemikazuchi from the Minerva and sighs, saying that for all the faith Durandel put in the Minerva, her first mission as a member of FAITH is off to a poor start. Cagalli tells her not to worry too much about it; the Minerva will be as good as new in no time. Talia laughs a bit at this, and reminds Cagalli that the Minerva is new.

Inside of a meeting room on the port-side of the Takemikazuchi's bridge-tower, Talia and Arthur sit down at the table. Cagalli looks out across the Andaman sea through one of the wide floor-to-ceiling windows for a moment before joining them, her finger softly running across a small pearl-ring on her left hand. Sitting down opposite Talia, Cagalli motions for the captain to look outside. Cagalli comments that in the half-month since the impact the skies have been cloudy. The sun has not been seen anywhere on the Earth since the asteroid fell. The trees will die soon, and much of the planet's farmland is completely unusable-it's only a matter of time before famine and disease claim more lives than the impact Cagalli frowns and continues her description of the planet's status, informing Talia that the political situation might be just as bad.

Electromagnetic interference has utterly disabled all forms of long-range communication; even radio waves can scarcely cover more than a few kilometers Because of the perpetual cloud cover no one can establish a direct laser-link with any of the communications satellites, and it doesn't look like any real form of mass-communication will be present on Earth until long after everyone is dead. Cagalli's frown worsens as she continues; the Earth Alliance is all but destroyed. Shortly after the impact the Eurasian Confederation seceded and the Atlantic Federation simply ceased communication with anyone. There are reports of various inter and multi-national wars throughout Europe and Africa, and given that most of the undamaged food supplies and agricultural centers in eastern Asia (controlled by the Eurasian Confederation and the Democratic Republic of China, respectively) escaped direct harm, that area will become a battleground soon. The Chinese government is holding its people together fairly well, but the story is different in the surrounding nations.

Cagalli motions at the window again, this time directing Talia's gaze to the coast. As Cagalli speaks, fleeting images of camouflaged soldiers creeping through the jungle appear. Cagalli says that many South-east Asian countries have fallen into a state of civil war: the nations have severely limited resources that the government wishes to keep for itself to the detriment of the common man. This oppression has forced many civilians to take up arms against the government in order to survive. Cagalli grimaces at this point, commenting that the civil war in the Thai peninsula has been getting increasingly violent. It's almost enough, she says, to long for the days when people fought each other over petty ideals of humanity, rather than food.

As the sun sets behind the trees, Shinn sits cross-legged in the dirt. The girl that had helped him earlier approaches him again, bringing him some soup. Shinn thanks her from before and asks for her name; she introduces herself as Sumalee Narong. Shinn asks her if she knows what's going to happen to him, and she says she doesn't know. Shinn doesn't say anything else, but Sumalee simply stands staring at him for a long period of time. Sumalee eventually musters the courage to ask Shinn if he's really from space, and Shinn laughs, asking her if "that's all it is." Shinn smiles and starts telling her about life in the colonies. When it gets dark, a woman calls Sumalee over to her to help her carry water to the camp from a nearby stream. The little girl leaps up and turns to smile at Shinn, saying that he's now her friend and calling him a "space-man". Shinn shrugs and makes a non-committal response as Sumalee runs off towards her mother.

At the site of the crashed Impulse Gundam, Heine helps a group of ORB engineers lift the fallen mobile suit up from the ground and load it onto a large skiff. A ZAKU pilot runs up to Heine and tells him that there's still no sign of the pilot. Heine groans and stares at the Gundam, commenting that the pilot sure is troublesome; it's appropriate that such an impulsive pilot would be given the Impulse Gundam. Heine sighs and tells the ORB workers to hurry up; they will have to wait to continue their search for the missing pilot until the morning.

Shinn watches absently as the little girl's mother returns to the outskirts of the camp carrying the water from the nearby stream; Sumalee, also carrying water runs past her mother to the center of the camp. The Woman stops for a moment at the edge of the forest and sets the bucket of water down, sighing; Shinn stares in shock as a brown hand seems to appear from out of nowhere, reaching out through the trees with a sharp knife and cutting through the woman's throat. With a soft choking sound the woman's head falls backward, spraying a fountain of blood forward at a group of small children that had been playing on the ground nearby. Before anyone has time to scream, a company of soldiers rapidly emerge from the forest shooting a hailstorm of bullets around the camp. Tents fall to the ground as the wooden poles supporting them are shredded into a cloud of splinters.

The guerrillas rush toward the attacking soldiers, attacking them with bullets, knives and their bare hands as the woman and children flee the camp. Shinn ducks and tries to crawl away. Shinn manages to find a stray knife and cut his bonds, but before he can run away a small figure rushes past him. Turning, Shinn sees Sumalee running into the fray crying, shouting "mother" over and over again. Sumalee makes it to her mother's body and presses her head against her mothers (which was cut through with such force that it was nearly completely severed from the neck) and drenching herself in her mother's blood. As the guerrillas chase off the attacking government forces, a lone soldier approaches Sumalee with a knife in hand-preoccupied with the other attackers, none of the defending guerrillas notice.

Shinn shouts a warning and runs at Sumalee, pushing her out of the way just as the soldier thrusts his knife forward, burying the blade deep in the soft flesh in the center of Shinn's elbow. Shinn screams in pain and punches the soldier in the face, and a defending guerrilla-the old man that seemed to be the leader of the group-fires his pistol at the back of the soldier's head splattering blood across Shinn's face. Shocked by the carnage, Shinn takes a step back. Shinn trips and falls down; his hands hit the ground in an effort to support his weight and land in a warm, sticky material. Shinn's eyes dilate and his body freezes. Slowly, he looks down to find his hands resting inside the hollowed remains of a massacred child. The child's chest has been completely torn out; Shinn's eyes rest on his pale, lifeless eyes and Shinn screams in horror.

**Episode 12 - END**

Next Episode: Shinn's Sorrow


	13. Chapter 13 Shinn's Sorrow

**Episode 13: Shinn's Sorrow**

A dull orange sun slowly rises over the sea; a small white bird squats and flays past. Leaning against a tree watching the waves crash against the beach below, Shinn Asuka closes his eyes and clenches his jaw as he tries to forget the scenes of the previous night.

A large man approaches Shinn from behind and tosses a simple handgun at his feet; Shinn lifts the weapon and stares at. Rotating it around in his hands, he marvels at how an object so small and lightweight could create such pain and sorrow. Shinn tosses the gun back down on the ground, recalling the feeling of his hands as they unwillingly buried themselves in the flesh the children who had been killed in the night. Their faces had been frozen in smile-all of them were killed before they had time to feel even the slightest twinge of fear.

The large man that brought Shinn the gun stares at the ZAFT pilot and sighs before sitting down beside him. Introducing himself to Shinn as Klahan, he thanks Shinn for saving Sumalee's life during the attack. Shinn fails to respond. Klahan picks up the pistol Shinn had discarded and asks him if he will fight with them. Shinn opens his eyes and glares at Klahan for a moment before turning away. Shinn tells Klahan it's not his fight. Klahan tells Shinn that the government is hoarding all of the food for themselves-the people are starving. He says that their former leaders would sooner see all of the people die than share what little resources are left. Shinn leans back and states that it has nothing to do with him. Klahan stands up, sighs, and tells Shinn that he won't force him to do anything he doesn't want. Shinn says nothing; Klahan tosses the gun onto the dirt in front of Shinn and tells him it's a gift.

Shinn leans back on the tree and closes his eyes. Sumalee walks up to Shinn and sits down beside him, but says nothing. Shinn opens his eyes and looks at her; the girl's face is expressionless. Shinn frowns as he remembers Sumalee's mother collapsing in a pool of blood as the soldiers attacked the camp the night before, and does not speak.

In the port of Penang, inside the borders of the ORB-allied Malaysian Kingdom, dozens of mechanics in small, aquatic mini-mobile suits swarm across the hull of the Minerva welding new armor plating across the vessel. Hundreds of tiny cables are strewn from the dock to the ship as it is thoroughly repaired and resupplied. To ORB fleet led by the Takemikazuchi sits at anchor just outside the port. On the Minerva's mobile suit launch deck, the remains of the Impulse Gundam are lifted into an upright position. Walking down from the catwalk to the deck of the hangar, captain Talia Gladys asks a mechanic how long the repairs will take. He responds that the Impulse will not be operational for another month with the resources they have. Though the physical form of the Impulse Gundam escaped harm, much of the internal circuitry and mechanics were damaged in the crash; it's a miracle that Shinn survived.

Talia sighs at the mechanic's last words as Heine approaches her, saluting. Talia asks Heine if the search teams have found any evidence of Shinn. Heine informs her that Shinn Asuka's parachute had been located, but there was no sign of the pilot. Further exploration into the coastal jungles will prove difficult as the Thai Republican Army has mobilized it's troops in the area for the task of rooting out and eliminating "rebels" but the government troops are also targeting the ZAFT search teams. Talia sighs and Arthur asks her if they should list Shinn as officially MIA-missing in action-but Talia tells him to wait just a little while longer.

In the break-room of the Minerva, Rey za Burrel and Lunamaria Hawke talk to each other about Shinn. Luna asks Rey if he thinks Shinn really survived, to which Rey responds that Shinn is most certainly alive. Rey is utterly serious when he declares Shinn's status, prompting Luna to groan and ask him how he can be so certain. Rey's face loosens and he smiles at her slightly, saying it's just a feeling. Lunamaria sighs and leans back in her chair, commenting that Rey's smiles always seem fake; Rey laughs softly and tells her he can't help it. Meyrin wanders over and starts to speak with her sister; Rey picks up his drink and prepares to indulge when the sound of a loud explosion is heard-the shock of which causes Rey's glass to fly out of his hand and shatter on the deck. Rey quickly regains his composure. Luna and Meyrin, startled by Rey's actions, ask him what's wrong. Rey smiles and shakes his head, telling them it's nothing. Luna and Meyrin leave it at that and resume their conversation; Rey's gaze intensifies and he softly tells Shinn to be careful.

Running through the Jungle, a giant explosion shakes the ground, sending Shinn flying upward through the air and crashing into a mound of dirt. Sumalee runs to Shinn to help him up, but Klahan grabs her arm and then proceeds to forcibly extricate Shinn from the ground and drag him away at breakneck speed. A pair of heavy-artillery shells slam into the ground nearby, exploding into tiny craters and sending chunks of dirt, rock and wood flying in ever direction. Dirt from a blast splatters across Shinn's face and he looks around. The ground continues to shudder as round-after-round of artillery slam into the area. Shinn shakes, terrified-he is barely able to stand so great is the shock. Shinn haltingly manages to ask, at no one in particular, what is going on. Klahan grimaces and slaps Shinn across the face with a large, gloved hand. Klahan shouts at Shinn, saying "you're a soldier, aren't you! This is war." And Shinn simply stares at the increasing violence around him, seemingly unable to comprehend the reality of the situation.

Grimacing, Klahan grabs the mumbling ZAFT pilot by the collar and drags him off. Shinn's face is frozen with he eyes open; his mouth opens and closes but no sounds come out. The shelling stops for a moment and Klahan looks up and asks himself if it's over. Sumalee grabs onto his leg and looks at Shinn sorrowfully. A high-pitched screeching noise starts in the distance and quickly gets louder and louder. Klahan throws Shinn and Sumalee into one of the blast-craters and jumps on top of them, covering the two with his considerable torso. A pair of skygraspers fly overhead at low altitude and fire off pairs of tiny rockets. the rockets scream over the jungle and erupt into long trails of bright-orange liquid fire-incinerating everything they touch. One of the guerrillas runs past a flaming tree and his shoulder catches the flame. When he tries to smother the flames with his hand, the fire spreads to his hands; everything the flames touch is consumed.

Several women and children huddle down on the ground beside a large outcropping of rock. Klahan prepares to lead Shinn and Sumalee to the sheltered group when the sudden rumbling of a dozen tanks roars over the battlefield. The women and children look up in horror as the treads of a tank rise out over the rock outcropping and come smashing down on top of them. Klahan screams in anger and sorrow at the sight, dropping to his knees. A guerrilla runs at the tank with a bomb strapped to his chest and detonates himself in front of the armored vehicle-but the tank emerges from the blast unscathed.

As the tanks and fighters continue to bombard the fleeing guerrillas, killing them indiscriminately, Klahan takes Sumalee and Shinn and together the three of them run as fast as they can away from the battlefield. Small tears fall from Klahan's eyes and the burly Thai man mutters a swift prayer for the comrades he's leaving behind, though it is almost a certainty that all of them will die. Sumalee grabs on to Shinn's sleeve, and for the first time Shinn notices his her. He looks into Sumalee's eyes and he sees himself, back in ORB, watching his family die. Tears run down Shinn's cheeks and he asks himself what the hell he's been doing.

On the bridge of the Minerva dozens of Malay news reports flicker across the various monitors, displaying foreboding news of rising military tensions with the Thai Republic. Talia frowns and says that the Minerva cannot afford to stay in the country any longer, and orders the Minerva to set sail for the United Emirates of ORB. Meyrin notifies Talia that the Takemikazuchi and it's fleet will form-up around the Minerva for the voyage, and Arthur asks Talia if she's certain. Talia says that there's no helping it; they had already delayed far too long. Talia orders Arthur to officially list ZAFT pilot Shinn Asuka as Missing-In-Action as of November 1, CE 78.

On a burnt out portion of the Andaman coast, on a ridge overlooking the sea, a vast section of forest has been scarred and burned beyond recognition. Craters litter the landscape, bodies lie everywhere in varying shades of black and red; small fires still linger at the periphery and tank-treads criss-cross the area. Hundreds of black ravens-crows-squawk loudly as the flap through the air and hop along the ground from body to body, picking at the burnt and twisted flesh with their sharp beaks. Near a blasted-out tree stump at the edge of the ridge a single black crow lands on an abandoned pistol-with a small human finger clutched in its beak.

**Episode 13 - END**

Next Episode: The Man From Jupiter


	14. Chapter 14 The Man From Jupiter

**Episode 14: The Man From Jupiter**

Shrouded in the eternal black of space, a trio of gleaming GuAIZ mobile suits painted dark-blue fly forward in a tight corkscrew-maneuver. A pinprick of light in the distance expands, only to morph into a violent stream of silent gunfire, passing harmlessly through the gaps in the formation. A squadron of jet-black JINNs approach the ZAFT squadron; attacking furiously. The blue GuAIZs immediately boost outward in separate directions, leaving the attackers clumped together. Before the black JINNs have time to react a pillar of red energy lashes out, enveloping the mobile suits in a fiery torrent. As the mobile suits explode, the wide beam of light narrows and dissipates, streaming outward from the overly-long barrel of a ZAKU-Gunner.

Inside the blue ZAKU[g] Dearka Elsman smirks triumphantly. One of the black JINNs, however, escaped the blast and boosts toward Dearka's suit with vengeful haste. Approaching the ZAKU from behind, the JINN closes in too quickly for Dearka to counter-attack; a second blue ZAKU, this one with a "Slash-type" WIZARD striker pack lifts its arm and cuts through the last JINN with its beam axe in one clean, swift swipe. The resulting explosion knocks Dearka's ZAKU[g] forward into space where it is caught by a pair of allied GuAIZ.

Dearka tells Yzak not to be so impulsive, and in the cockpit of the ZAKU[s] Yzak Joule tells him to shut up and return to their ship; the Joule-team's mission is complete. The five blue ZAFT mobile suits then fly toward a tiny speck of light that slowly gets larger, revealing itself to be the Chasseur de Têtes. Inside his cockpit, a small screen opens up on a monitor displaying the the Nazca's communications officer; she informs Yzak that their rendezvous with the Autonomous Fleet has been moved up; Yzak groans and orders the Chasseur de Têtes to move out.

On the outer ridge of a large crater, surrounded by the demolished ruins of a former metropolis, Shinn, Klahan and Sumalee walk past a large mound of rubble and move into a large crowd of refugees moving slowly northward. Sumalee trips on a piece of debris and falls face-forward, but Shinn catches her; he tells her to take it easy, and grasps her hand. Klahan grunts and motions to the center of the crater-amid the rubble, dozens of white-and-green tents are set up as various men and women clad in ZAFT uniforms rush about trying to help the throng of refugees.

Sumalee and Klahan stop in front of the larger tent and lean against the rusted remains of an abandoned car; Shinn tries to brush off the thick layer of dirt and grime clinging to his clothing and starts to head to the command tent. Sumalee grabs onto Shinn's shirt and gives it a tug; looking at the displaced pilot worryingly. Shinn smiles and tells her that everything is going to be all right. Shinn walk toward a woman in the center of the tent who is barking out orders and starts to snap off a quick salute, but before he can say anything a pair of ZAFT soldiers knock him out of the way and he falls onto the ground.

Wiping a small trickle of blood off of his lower lip, Shinn looks up to see the two soldiers fervently whispering something to the woman-commander. The commander's eyes widen and her face pales, and she turns her head to look above the ruined skyscrapers beyond the rim of the crater and shouts orders for all of the ZAFT soldiers to find the refugees shelter immediately. Shinn jumps up and runs toward the commander, hurriedly asking her to tell him what's going on; she brushes him aside and tells him to find shelter, and then orders a nearby soldier sitting in front of what appears to be a gigantic radio transmitter and asks him if he can contact the ZAFT's Myanmar base; the communication officer tells her that he's having difficulty establishing a clear signal with all the interference. The commander tells him to hurry up and request immediate reinforcements as soon as possible.

A giant explosion rocks the ground, knocking Shinn off his feet once more; the skeletal remains of a building in the distance collapse in a plume of dust, and the faint silhouette of a gargantuan aircraft appears on the horizon. A flurry of missiles streak out from the distance toward the refugee camp; Shinn's eyes widen and the missiles hit. The vast numbers of refugees packed into the area break into panic, screaming and crying and running. Shinn makes eye contact with Klahan and runs toward his two companions, but is thrown back as a missile impacts between them. Shinn tries to stand up, but his left leg erupts in blood and gives out beneath him. Crawling forward, Shinn looks to the point where he last say Sumalee and Klahan, only to see the ruined car they had been near bent and twisted beyond recognition. Shinn's eyes roll back in his head and he passes out.

Approaching the giant cylinder of the Delphi Colony, a giant red Gwazine-class warship comes to a halt outside the Colony's port flanked by a trio of large rectangular cargo-vessels with giant bell-shaped rocket thruster protruding from the rear. On the opposite side of the dock, the Nazca-class Chasseur de Têtes hold position as the Joule-team disembarks in their mobile suits; Yzak and Dearka in the lead. From the central hangar of the Gwazine-class, a single shuttle slowly launches and makes its way toward Delphi's port. A pair of Janissary mobile suits follow the shuttle at a close distance, maintaining a defensive posture, while two squadrons of Centurion mobile-suits and a single squadron of Hussar mobile-suits also launch from the Gwazine and begin flying in slow-formation around the red starship.

The shuttle lands inside of Delphi, and the two Janissaries drop to the deck on either side of the small transport, kneeling down on the deck. A cluster of men clad in the white-and-blue uniforms of the Independent Terran Colonies approach the shuttle nervously; the hatch opens and a single man clad in a dark helmet emerges, followed by a trio of young attendants: a silver-haired man, an man with green hair, and a young short-haired blond girl. One of the ITC officials steps forward and offers to take the envoy to their rooms, as they are no doubt tired from the long journey from the belt. The masked man raises his hand in soft objection and replies that he would much rather meet with Durandel as soon as possible.

The masked man and his three attendants a large round table meeting room high atop the colonies "mountain" with a giant row of large floor-to-ceiling window looking out across the interior of Delphi. Meere Campbell, sitting at one of the chairs, turns to face the masked visitor and greets him, asking him to have a seat. Gilbert Durandel, supreme Chairman of Plant, turns around from examining the view to greet the guests. The masked man bows to Durandel and introduces himself as Neo Roanoke, and then motions to his companions whom he introduces as Sting Oakley, Stellar Loussier, and Auel Schneider. Durandel smiles and says that he is pleased that the Autonomous State responded to his proposal so swiftly, and motions for Neo and his entourage to sit down.

Durandel introduces Neo to Meere, whom he introduces as the First Citizen of the newly formed Independent Federation of Terran Colonies-and the civilian leader of Delphi. Meere smiles at the introduction and bows her head slightly, saying that this was the first time she met a Jovian. Durandel asks Neo how things are going on the rim, to which Neo responds that piracy has been getting worse since the Bloody Valentine war, but thanks to President Durandel's efforts, the industrial production of the Jovian Autonomous Colonial State remains steady. Durandel leans back in his chair and asks Neo how well his older sister is faring; to which Neo responds Guiette Durandel is just as strong minded as ever. Durandel laughs and tells Neo that he respects the man's tact.

Neo turns to Meere and states that he brought with him twenty squadrons of mobile suits, from the older-type Centurion mobile suits to the newer Janissary models. He asks her if the Independent Colonies really require such a strong defensive force, Meere replies that terrorism and piracy in the area are reaching record-levels-the ZAFT vessel that escorted Neo to Delphi, she tells him, has been hunting down and fighting terrorist groups in the area virtually non-stop for the past month. Neo shrugs and says that if the situation was really that bad, why couldn't ZAFT simply give away mobile suits to the colony; Durandel states that ZAFT's military is still weak from the damage of the Bloody Valentine war, and virtually all of their resources are being put into the implementation of the Destiny plan. Besides, any overt support of the Independent Colonies could be seen as a power grab, and the ITC needs to retain it's image of complete neutrality as long as possible. Meere's eyes narrow at this comment, but before she can say anything Durandel asks her if she thinks it's time to begin making preparations for the transfer of supplies from the Autonomous fleet to the colonies. Meere sighs under her breath and leaves the room.

Durandel tells Neo that he would very much like to speak to the man alone, and Neo makes a single gesture at which Sting, Stellar and Auel stand up in silence and leave the room. Durandel asks Neo if the three were "candidates" for the program, to which Neo replies that they are merely potential candidates. The current criteria they have for detecting candidates is too wide he says; even he has expanded spatial awareness. Unfortunately, Neo says, the technology for utilizing candidates has exceeded their abilities to actually find the candidates. Many of the new devices for utilizing that potential Neo brought with him to be tested in actual combat with the potential candidates. Durandel asks Neo how effective the new technology is, to which Neo responds that it is just as effective as any other new breed of weapon-they won't know for certain until they try. It does look very promising, however, Neo states.

Durandel stands up and walks to the window; the colony's angle has turned to the point that only a small amount of sunlight is filtered inside, giving the illusion of a deep-red dusk. Neo stands up and walks to Durandel's side and kneels on the floor in front of the Chairman, bowing his head deeply. Neo then tells Durandel that, as per their previous conversations, he lives only to serve Durandel's purposes. Durandel softly states that he will require a man of capability-someone he can trust-to be an agent of discord in the world. . Durandel then says that he cannot trust anyone who is always hiding his face. Neo's mouth curls slightly in a grin that Durandel cannot see; his eyes obscured by the unemotional opaque lenses of the helmet.

Neo tells Durandel that it's not a pretty sight, but Durandel says nothing. Standing up, Neo places his hands on either side of his neck and presses his fingers on a pair of tiny buttons on either side of the helmet. A brief hissing sound ensues followed by a few metallic clicks, at which point the front-half of Neo's Mask pops outward slightly, allowing him to grab onto it slightly and remove it from his face. Durandel's eyes widen in slight shock as he stares at Neo's face. He leans forward slightly, moving his hand forward as if to touch it; he asks Neo what happened. Neo stands up and faces Durandel at an equal level; his eyes are pure-white; bare circuitry rims his brow line and his left cheekbone is made of steel. A deep scar runs down his face from his left eye, ending just above the edge of his mouth. Durandel asks him what happened, and Neo simply responds that he had an accident some time ago-they don't have time to talk about the past-the two of them have far more important issues to discuss.

Shinn floats unaware in a sea of darkness. His head begins to rock to the side violently, and his eyes open. Sumalee is clutching Shinn's chest and crying; the ground shakes but no noise is heard. Shinn starts to sit up and Klahan sees him, and runs at him with his mouth moving, though Shinn cannot hear any of the words. Shinn ignores the burly Thai man and stands up, only to be forced by a loud cracking noise as his broken leg erupts in a cacophony of pain. Shinn falls back down and can hear Sumalee's crying and Klahan's irritation, as well as the sound of screaming, gunfire and explosions nearby. Shinn is lying in a deep ravine, protected from the combat by a rusted metal plate leaning against a rocky embankment.

Shinn brushes aside Klahan and crawls up, ignoring the pain in his shattered leg. A giant Garuda-class Aerial Battleship hovers above them, ominously silent, as a trio of Earth-Alliance Windam model mobile-suits take slow, deliberate steps on the ground, crushing the refugees underneath their giant mechanized feet and incinerated the ZAFT relief forces with overwhelming firepower. A group of refugees walks slowly toward one of the attacking Windams, hands raised in surrender. The Dagger kneels as if to accept the surrender, only to open fire with its giant head-mounted machine cannons and blast the refugees into mere specks of dismembered flesh. On the bridge of the Garuda, Lord Djibril surveys the massacre below. He smiles and licks his lips at the carnage; stating that fools who run to Coordinators for help don't deserve to live. A man in an EA uniform approaches Djibril and informs him that a pair of mobile suit squadrons are approaching the Garuda from ZAFT's Myanmar base. Djibril smiles and comments that it's just like a Coordinator to underestimate naturals-they're like lambs running up to the slaughter.

A trio of DINNs fly above the blasted refugee camp, opening fire on the attacking mobile suits. A high-powered beam-turret located below the nose of the Garuda swivels and fires at the DINNs, engulfing one of the suits in a field of superheated plasma. One of the Windams opens fire on the DINN squadron, and two of the ZAFT mobile suits erupt in flames, crashing into the fleeing refugees below. Shinn's eyes widen as he watches the scene of death before him. He clenches his fists and asks himself why it is that people fighting never think about the people that get caught up in their battles. A half ZAKU mobile suits jump into the crater to join the fray. Shinn is surprised that the ZAKU is already in mass-production, but doesn't have time to dwell on it as one of the ZAKU's lands just beside Shinn's partial shelter, shaking the steel plating loose and revealing Shinn, Klahan and Sumalee to the battle. Sumalee stops crying and grabs Shinn fiercely. A pair of missiles streak out and slam into the nearby ZAKU's leg, throwing the mobile suit of balance. The ZAKU crashes down on top of Shinn and his companions. Shinn stands up quickly, ignoring his leg as the blood runs out past his clothing, grabs on to Sumalee and leaps away. Klahan, however, is unable to escape in time and is crushed under the wait of the mobile suit. Sumalee calls out to him and reaches toward him, but Shinn pulls her away.

Shinn runs up to the ZAKU and forces the cockpit hatch open; the ZAFT pilot was still alive, but the force of the impact had knocked him unconscious. Shinn apologizes to the man and pulls him out of the cockpit, laying him on the ground. Shinn tells the pilot that he hopes he will survive, and then takes Sumalee with him as he enters the ZAKU's cockpit and closes the hatch. Shinn quickly establishes control of the mobile suit and gets it to stand up. Because of trauma from the fall, the monitors are filled with static. Shinn manages to clear up the static as the mobile suit is righted only to see the battlefield-the ZAFT relief forces were being decimated by Djibril's fearsome onslaught. Sumalee clutch Shinn and stops herself from crying for a moment and looks at Shinn pleadingly. Shinn smiles at her reassuringly and tells her not to worry; he will protect her.

**Episode 14 - END**

Next Episode: The Uncertain Horizon


	15. Chapter 15 The Uncertain Horizon

**Episode 15: The Uncertain Horizon**

The ZAKU's left leg slams into the soft dirt of the crater as Shinn struggles to right the large mobile suit; squeezed into the small area behind the pilot's seat at the back of the cockpit, Sumalee clutches the metal innards of the war machine fearfully. Sensing Sumalee's distress, Shinn tilts his head to the side and smiles reassuringly. He tells her not to worry; he will protect her.

The remaining two ZAKUs refrain from entering the battlefield, choosing instead to crouch behind the rim of the crater and fire their beam rifles at the attacking Windams from a safe distance. Breaking through the garbled static of the ZAKU's radio, Shinn hears one of the ZAFT pilots asking why the Atlantic Federation has mobilized it's mobile forces so far east into the continent. The transmission breaks off and Shinn scans the area near where the ZAKU fell looking for the beam rifle: he spots the beam rifle, but unfortunately it was bent into an L shape by the mobile suit's fall. A fierce volley of beams shoot down from the edge of the crater and slam into the ground near the Windams' feet, erupting into geysers of superheated dirt and molten rock. Two of the three Windams turn toward the attacking ZAKUs and begin a slow trek up the wall of the crater, firing their beam rifles at the entrenched ZAKUs but unable to score any hits. The third Windam, however, ignores the attacking ZAFT mobile suits and deliberately lowers its massive pointed foot down on top of a huddled brown mass scurrying across the battlefield, desperately trying to flee. With an almost inaudible, muffled crunch, the refugee is crushed, his bones pressed into the dirt.

Shinn, taking advantage of the enemy pilot's inattention, lunges toward the Windam and rams the ZAKU's spiked shoulder into the Alliance mobile suit's right arm, piercing through the armor and mechanical tendons and half-way severing the arm. The Windam steps away from Shinn, peeling its shredded arm off of the ZAKU, and prepares to withdraw its beam-saber to counterattack. Before the enemy pilot has time to ignite the saber, however, Shinn lunges at the Windam, rapidly closing the distance between the two, and kneels in front of it; removing his beam-tomahawk from its rack on the rear skirt-armor of the ZAKU and makes a single, clean slash across the Windam's torso, melting all the way through the thin armor of the cockpit. The pilots blood pours out of the molten gash in the Windam's torso, dripping in chunks onto the ZAKU's knees and the ground below before the mobile suit falls face down in the dirt. Shinn, breathing heavily, exhales in relief and turns his head to Sumalee to ask her if she's okay. Sumalee doesn't respond; her eyes are clenched shut as she tries to block out the battle from her mind.

The other two Windams momentarily pause their advance on the entrenched ZAKUs just in time to turn and see Shinn-piloting the ZAKU mobile suit they thought had been disabled at the very start of the battle-seamlessly kill their comrade. Incensed, the Windam pilots forget their situation and fly toward Shinn's ZAKU beam-sabers drawn and poised to attack. Shinn barely avoids the attack by stepping to the side, and then attempts to flee from his attackers by leaping into the air and firing his thrusters and their maximum output. The ZAKU flies upward toward the Garuda high-above, and the two Windams leap into the air as well, peppering the rear of Shinn's mobile suit with a hail of machine-gun fire. Perched high-above the battlefield in the Garuda, Djibril looks down on Shinn as his ZAKU flies upward. Djibril's eyes narrow as he examines the two Windams a little further below; Djibril calls the Windam pilots fools and turns away. The two allied ZAKUs take full advantage of the opportunity and leave their cover to fire their beam rifles at the two distracted Windams. A volley of beams envelope the flying Windams, cutting through the Earth Alliance mobile suits and sending their broken remains crashing to the ground.

Inside the Garuda, Djibril's brow furrows in frustration. An Alliance officer approaches Djibril and asks him is he would like to launch the Garuda's remaining complement of Windams; Djibril declines and orders the Minerva to withdraw. He says that the fight was a fair one, and they would have won if not for the inability of their pilots. Djibril states that there would be no honor in continuing the fight; the victory clearly belongs to ZAFT. Shinn continues to fly upward at the Garuda, even as the large booster on the ZAKU's back erupts in flame and begins spewing smoke out behind him. The two allied ZAKUs on the ground below watch in awe as Shinn grabs on to the Garuda's port wing and the weight of his mobile suit throws the giant aerial carrier off-balance. Clutching onto the swiftly-weakening metal with a single arm, Shinn swings the ZAKU close to the hull of the Garuda and punches a hole in the main airframe with his mobile suit's clenched fist. On the bridge, a ruffled officer orders the remaining Windams to launch, but Djibril stops him.

Djibril looks down at the ZAKU as it punches the main fuselage and calls Shinn and impudent child. The steel frame of wing that Shinn's clutching bends and breaks, sending Shinn's ZAKU careening downward. The Garuda rebalances itself and turns to leave the area. Djibril watches as the two allied ZAKU's leap into the air to catch Shinn's suit and bring his ZAKU safely to a landing, commenting that he probably will not die well.. On the ground Shinn watches as the Garuda disappears over the horizon; the two allied ZAKU's lower Shinn's suit into a kneeling pose. Shinn fumbles to unbuckle himself from the pilot's chair and helps Sumalee extricate herself from the back of the cockpit. He wipes some sweat off of her forehead and tells her that everything is all right; it's all over. Using a small laser-cutter the two ZAFT pilots manage to pry open the ZAKU's cockpit. Shinn, holding on to Sumalee, exits the mobile suits cockpit and thanks the two ZAFT pilots for helping him. The two pilots look at Shinn, dressed in ragged clothing, and then at each other. They look at Shinn again, and ask him who he is.

Meere Campbell enters her private office and falls into her chair, sighing melodramatically. Her aide, Dorris Yung tries to ask her if he can get her anything, but before he can finish his sentence Meere glares at him and raises her voice, complaining that chairman Durandel is impossible to deal with. Yung says he knows that, but they have to deal with it for now. Meere frowns and waves her hand dismissively; she says it's like Durandel knew everything that would happen years before it actually happened. If she didn't know any better, she might even be tempted to think Durandel himself was responsible for the Junon incident. Yung is a bit shocked at this statement, and Meere continues to say that the Independent Colonies are far too-well prepared for Durandel's Destiny Plan than coincidence could allow for. It doesn't feel right.

Yung asks Meere if that means she agreed to it, Meere says that she signed the Ghent Papers an hour ago and the Independent Colonies are now officially committed to the Destiny Plan. Yung says that the Destiny Plan, regardless of Durandel's machinations, is a good thing. Meere says she knows that, but it still doesn't feel right. Yung says he guesses he understands how she's feeling, but that things ought to get a bit less hectic when Phantom Pain leaves. Meere, confused, asks Yung who Phantom-Pain is. Yung tells her that he overheard Durandel call the delegation from Jupiter a "phantom pain task force". Meere is surprised to hear that the emissaries from Jupiter will be leaving Delphi so quickly, and, upon thinking for a moment, asks herself what Durandel is thinking. Durandel must be up to something, Meere says, groaning. Yung shrugs, saying they are up to something too.

Inside a dimly-lit room on the lowest-level of the Delphi Colony, surrounded by tall narrow windows looking out onto a vast starfield, Auel Loussier reclines on a large red-cushioned couch reading a book. Stellar Loussier and Sting Oakley are nearby, absently playing a video game while their masked superior, Neo Roanoke, brings up various documents on a computer monitor at the far end of the room. Stellar shouts at Sting, breaking the quiet, saying that he cheated. Sting rubs his forehead and tells Stellar that she's not a good enough player for him to need to cheat. Stellar grabs Sting's face with her hands and begins pulling at it roughly; Sting yelps in pain and tries to push her away.

Auel sets down his book, irritated, and tells Sting and Stellar to shut up. Stellar tells him to shut-up and tosses one of the game controllers at him. Auel angles his head to the side to avoid it and yawns, scratching his head. Stellar knocks Sting over and kicks at him; Sting grunts and starts to get ready to fight back, when Neo-without turning around or looking up-comments that it's not right to hit a lady. Sting and Stellar stop fighting and sit up, looking toward Neo alertly. Auel straightens up and looks to Neo as well, though with a slightly bored expression on his face: Neo tells the three to come to him and look at something interesting he found.

Sting, Auel and Stellar walk up behind Neo. Auel and Stellar stand behind him and look at the computer screen, while Sting walks up from the side and puts his hand on the back of Neo's chair as he leans in to look at the computer monitor. Neo tells the trio to watch closely as he brings up a small, grainy video clip of the battle of Jachin Due-the Strike Gundam engages in combat with a squadron of EA Dagger and ZAFT GuAIZ mobile suits, deftly defeating dozens of foes with single-shots. Sting asks when the battle happened and Neo tells him it was nearly seven years ago. Stellar asks if the pilot had the S factor, and Neo responds that the pilot did indeed possess a very strong S factor, and exhibited significantly-developed S potential before he died. Stellar remarks that it is strange that the factor appeared in the Earth Sphere so early; Sting tells her not to be stupid-the pilot they're watching was probably the only one. Auel shrugs and starts to go back to his book, saying that since the pilot is already dead it doesn't matter if he had developed his S factor or not.

Neo smiles and says that he found one other; Sting, Stellar and Auel are all surprised. Another video of the battle at Jachin Due appears on-screen, this time showing the Freedom Gundam engaged in a duel with the Providence Gundam. Neo states that the pilot of the Providence is confirmed to have partially awakened his S-factor. The four Jovians watch the fight in silence; Auel is the first to speak up just as the Providence Gundam is defeated, asking how developed the S-factor of the Freedom's pilot is estimated to be; Neo smiles and says that analysis of the battle does show the Freedom's pilot to have the factor, but it has not yet awakened. Stellar is startled and says it's impossible than an unawakened pilot could fight that well. Neo smiles and says he told them it was interesting. Sting asks if the Freedom's pilot is still alive; Neo smiles, but says nothing. Stellar asks Neo if they will be able to find the pilot on Earth, and Neo states that since they're going to Earth anyway, it couldn't hurt anything if they looked around a bit. Sting smiles and says he'd like to fight the Freedom's pilot, and Stellar glares at him. Neo tells them to rest well; Phantom Pain ships out in the morning. Stellar asks what Phantom Pain is, Neo says it's their new code-name. Stellar says it's weird; Sting says it's cool; Auel shrugs.

Lunamaria Hawke enters the Minerva's break room and collapses into a chair, sighing softly and using a towel to wipe sweat from her face. She unzips her normal suit halfway down her breast and starts gulping down a glass of water. Rey walks into the break room and stops, he turns to Luna and complements her. Lunamaria asks him what he means and Rey gestures at her chest. Lunamaria looks down to see her shirt, too, is soaked in sweat. She angles her chair away from Rey and says if she wasn't so tired she'd give him a pounding. Rey shrugs thanks god that there weren't any ladies present. Luna zips up her normal suit a bit more to conceal her cleavage and tells Rey he's disgusting. Rey tells her it's part of his job description.

Rey walks over to a small television monitor set up in the corner of the break room; activating the device he switches to a news program. The picture is distorted and grainy. Lunamaria complains that after all the work they put into setting up that damned communications antennae they ought to at least get better reception. Rey looks at the screen and says that it's old news. On the monitor a woman in a suit comments on the recent Eurasian invasion of North American and the increasing war between the Atlantic Federation and the Eurasian Confederacy. The picture switches to a pitched mobile suit battle in a mountainous region. Luna sighs and comments that the news is at least a week old. Rey turns the device off and sits down at the table opposite Lunamaria.

Lunamaria says that at least when they were at ORB they got to leave the ship every once in a while, and the view was a lot better. Rey smiles and tells her to shut up; she sounds like a child. Luna frowns and asks Rey if he thinks they'll be setting up another communications tower at Gibraltar when they get there. Rey says he doesn't think so-Gibraltar was the first place to set up of of the new communication boosters. The Minerva's orders, he says, are simply to reinforce the ZAFT forces already stationed at Gibraltar; not even the captain knows exactly what they're supposed to do there. Luna stands up and heads toward the exit, Rey asks her where she's going. Lunamaria says she's going to her quarters for a shower and a nap. Rey stands up and follows her, offering to join her. Lunamaria states that even jokes can go too far and empties the contents of her glass over Rey's head before walking out the door.

At the cracked runway of an old airport within ZAFT's Myanmar base, Shinn Asuka, kneeling down in front of a woman in a green ZAFT uniform, talks with Sumalee. He asks her if she has everything he gave her and she nods. Sumalee suddenly says she's scared and grabs on to Shinn: she doesn't want him to leave her. Shinn tells her that she's going to be okay, he'll see her again soon. He takes a letter from Sumalee's hands and gestures at the names written on it. Shinn tells Sumalee that they are his foster parents and that they're good people-when Sumalee gets to Adrianapolis she will be safe and they will look after her.

Sumalee starts to cry and tells Shinn she doesn't want him to leave. Shinn says he would like nothing more than to go back home with her, but he cannot. He tells her that PLANT isn't actually at war with anyone, so it's likely he'll be able to return to space soon. Sumalee doesn't seem to understand what Shinn is saying, but she trusts him enough to stop crying. The woman in the green ZAFT uniform takes Sumalee's hand and Shinn grabs her shoulder, telling her to take good care of Sumalee. The woman says that she will be with Sumalee all the way up until the little girl boards the shuttle. Shinn thanks her and watches as Sumalee is led into the airplane. Shinn waves at her and watches the plane take off. Glancing at his watch Shinn realizes that he is late for his briefing and runs toward the command center at the opposite end of the base.

Shinn runs past a pair of standing ZAKUs outside the command center and rushes inside. He makes his way to the briefing room where he hastily sits down in the back; there are five other pilots in the room. The base commander glances at Shinn and continues with the briefing. Shinn and the others, he explains, will be transferred to the 13th mobile suit squadron. One of the other pilots asks what type of mobile suits they will be getting-the commander tell them they will be piloting DINNs. Shinn asks what their first mission will be and the commander states the the 13 mobile suit squadron is being assigned to ZAFT's Gibraltar base to assist in an unspecified future operation. As Shinn and the others leave the command center, Shinn stares at the dark, overcast skies and wonders how well the Minerva is faring.

In orbit of Earth, alone in a dark room staring out over the white and blue planet below, Gilbert Durandel observes the Earth's slow rotation. Closing his eyes, Durandel directs a question to a man that is no longer alive. He addresses Rau le Creuset, and refers to him as his good friend. Durandel tells Rau that he took the opportunity when he saw it. He asks if Rau thinks his actions are evil; if Rau would have done the same thing in his shoes. Durandel sighs; Rau does not respond since he is not there, and Durandel softly tells himself that it does not matter what the world thinks of him, he will either be remembered as the savior or humanity or one if its many villains. So long as his goal is accomplished-so long as he can ensure his own destiny and the destiny of humanity-nothing else will matter. Durandel opens his eyes and looks out across the the Earth, saying that events are progressing far more rapidly than he ever imagined possible. More than anything else, Durandel says, he wishes Rau could be there to help him through it.

**Episode 15 - END**

Next Episode: Premonitions Of The Great Design


	16. Chapter 16 Premonitions

**Episode 16: Premonitions Of The Great Design**

In the break-room of the Minerva, Rey, Luna and Heine stack their trays on the counter and don their helmets, preparing to board their respective mobile suits. Luna starts to head to the back of the break room to turn off the television in the corner, but Heine tells her not to bother with it-they need to launch as soon as possible. Luna shrugs and follows the other two pilots out of the room. Under random bursts of intermittent static, the television continues to play a news report to the empty room. A reporter states that the ongoing war between the Atlantic Federation and the Eurasian Confederation has escalated; both sides are now engaged in full, total war in multiple theaters. Another reporter mentions that PLANT's orbital drops and refugee relief efforts are continuing, despite the increasing acts of anti-coordinator terrorism.

In her office outside the Minerva's bridge, Talia Gladys watches the same report on a small fold-up screen on her desk. She taps the screen, irritated, and Arthur Trine-the second-in-command-asks her what's wrong. Talia asks Arthur if he heard anything strange in the broadcast; he says he doesn't know. Talia then mentions that all of the news is about the events following the Junon disaster-but no one is talking about the events that preceded it. Arthur suggests that since ZAFT was responsible for reestablishing a planetary-communications network perhaps they were censoring the reports. Talia looks thoughtful, and then rubs her hand against the desk, looking around the room. Talia then comments that lately there have been far too many things kept secret. Arthur looks at his watch and tells Talia that the operation will begin shortly: Talia nods in affirmation and Arthur excuses himself from the room.

The Saviour Gundam readies itself on the Minerva's catapult deck; inside the cockpit, Lunamaria goes over the mission objectives with the Bridge crew; Talia tells Luna that the canvas balloon is very fragile, and if her mobile suit so much as nudges it, it will rupture and fall. Luna says she knows that and the Saviour launches. Talia then orders Rey's Gaia Gundam and the ZAKU team to launch as well and support the Saviour from the ground; Atlantic Federation mobile suits have been spotted in the area and it is possible that they might attack. Heine asks if the Atlantic Federation can really afford to attack ZAFT now that their war with the Eurasians has gotten so much worse-Talia cuts off communication from the bridge and Heine yelps in surprise as his mobile suit is catapulted off of the Minerva's deck without warning. Rey laughs and tells Heine to pay more attention to the mood.

The Gaia and two remaining ZAKUs launch, slamming into a field of mud on the ground below. The mud splashes up and covers the knees of the mobile suits: the Saviour Gundam-transformed into its mobile-armor mode-flies overhead and Luna laughs at her fellow pilots, telling them to stop rutting around in the dirt and get to work. The ZAKUs trudge through the field and boost up a steep incline, approaching a wide metal structure no more than two meters in height, shaped like a smashed pyramid. A massive tightly-wound cable (nearly as wide as a mobile suit) reaches out from the apex of the pyramid and stretches skyward. The Gaia arrives at the location a bit after the others, and all four ZAFT mobile suits arrange themselves with their backs to the structure; facing outward in all directions. Rey tells the pilots to keep their eyes open and their heads on a swivel; they're in enemy territory. Heine snorts and comments that he doesn't need to be told how to do his job-he's an ace. Rey ignores him and looks up to see the tiny red form of the Saviour disappear in the clouds above as it gains altitude.

Above the choppy seas of the Mediterranean, a pair of ZAFT transport planes lower their back hatches and release a total of six mobile suits; all DINNs painted in dark gray-blue colors with the red-cross symbol of Operation Endurance. Emblazoned across the left shoulder of each mobile suit is the simple insignia of the 13th Mobile Suit Squadron. The gleaming metal helmets lock down over the heads of the ZAFT mobile suits and they spread out their wings, flying away from the transport planes and toward the coast and the mountains beyond. Inside the cramped, dirty cockpit of one of the DINNs Shinn Asuka checks over his controls and adjusts the mobile-suits heading slightly. He sighs and leans his head back, activating the radio and asking how long it will be before they arrive at the operation area. A curt female voice blasts through the radio telling Shinn to cut the useless chatter; another voice-a gruff, male voice-laughs and tells Shinn not to mind the woman: they've got a good hour-long flight ahead of them so they might as well relax.

Shinn asks why ZAFT is so keen on protecting a radio tower our in the middle of nowhere; the commander's voice cuts in over the radio informing the team that one of the drop-ships loaded with relief supplies-mostly food and medical equipment-sustained some damage in low orbit, and is being forced to crash-land in the wilderness. The radio-tower is the only active one close enough to maintain communication with the drop-ship and because the area it's projected to crash-land in is currently controlled by the Atlantic Federation, there's a high-possibility it will be attacked. Shinn groans and says he still doesn't get it. Why, he asks, does ZAFT even have a radio tower inside the borders of the Atlantic Federation to begin with?

The commander states that even he doesn't know that. Ever sense operation "Endurance" began one of the first priorities was to reestablish a global-communications network that could circumvent the massive electromagnetic interference caused by Junon's impact. In some cases construction of the giant, floating radio-boosters was prioritized over refugee relief. The commander then says that Durandel or some other higher-up in PLANT must have something to say and make certain that absolutely everyone on Earth hears it. The female voice from before asks what could be so important. The squadron commander exhales and says he has no idea. Shinn scratches his head and sighs, leaning back in the cramped cockpit as the six DINNs streak across the dark-gray sky.

Lunamaria Hawke's Saviour Gundam transforms back into a mobile suit as it reaches the top of the cable. Suspended high in the air is a large circular platform with dozens of satellite dishes, radio antennas and high-tech equipment held aloft by a large ring on inflated plastic underneath. The large cable was attached to the bottom of the platform through the hole in the balloons, tethering the atmospheric satellite to the ground. Luna whistles to herself and comments that the radio tower was a lot bigger than she expected it to be. She moves the Saviour in close, being very-careful not to touch the device while the large, heavy mobile suit is buffeted back and forth by the high-altitude winds.

The Saviour extends it's left arm and the forefinger of the mobile suit dislocates itself, moving up over the back of the and to reveal a tiny magnetic plug attached to a cable. Luna takes careful aim and the plug fires from the hand of the Gundam and attaches itself to a small metallic control plate at the edge of the radio tower. Connected to the Gundam by a very narrow wire, the plug allows Lunamaria to access the communication network directly. Glancing down at the dark-gray clouds just below and the light-gray clouds above, Luna asks herself if the radio-tower is really strong enough to boost a radio signal from the surface of the planet all the way up to space.

Tiny gaps of the upper cloud layer have parted, displaying a hazy blue sky above. Luna stops working for a moment to stare at the sky, wondering to herself just how much longer it will be until the planet's surface will see unfettered sunlight again. Lunamaria's daydreaming is cut short as a jarring burst of static fills the cockpit, preceding the garbled transmission of the damaged drop-ship. Lunamaria acknowledges the drop-ship's transmission and scans the skies above to make a visual confirmation of the ship's location and trajectory. After a bit of searching, Luna spots a tiny speck of movement in the sky above; it's the drop-ship, trailing a thin tail of smoke as it descends into the atmosphere.

Lunamaria inputs the ship's trajectory into the computer and tells the drop-ship to make several adjustments to it's course. Stabilizing its flight path, the drop-ship falls near to the location of the radio tower; Luna transforms the Saviour into it's flight-mode and flies toward the drop-ship, arcing around the gargantuan landing-craft as it ignites its landing thrusters and releases a dozen tiny parachutes from above to slow its rate of descent. Luna makes on more pass of the falling drop-ship, confirming that it is on a safe trajectory, before signaling down to the Minerva that the mission was a success.

Expecting to hear her younger sister's voice at the other end of the radio, Luna is surprised to hear nothing but static. She starts to wonder if something is wrong on the surface, but doesn't have time to finish her thought as a trio of Alliance Windams equipped for atmospheric flight burst upward out of the cloud-layer below firing their beam rifles at the drop-ship. Luna curses and moves in to attack the Atlantic Federation mobile suits. On the surface, Heine curses as a stray beam from an attacking Windam lances out and pierces through the upper left-torso of a ZAKU, disabling the mobile suit and forcing it to fall to it's knees. A heavy blast of Vulcan fire peppers the backside of the disabled ZAKU.

The pilot scrambles out of the cockpit of the fallen ZAKU and runs for cover; Heine moves to take the pilot back to the Minerva, but Rey yells at him to stay focused on the mission. Rey's warning is too late: an eager Windam pilot skids around and leaps at the cable, slicing the thick mass of metal and plastic in two with its beam saber, cutting the tether. Heine watches, dumbfounded, as the thick cable rises above the molten lower piece and slides to the side, moving upward before swiftly falling downward. Heine then gets control of himself and tells everyone to back away; they don't know where the tower will land, but they don't want it to hit them.

Rey grimaces as he cuts through one Windam only to be forced to recklessly duck down to avoid the attack of another. Transforming the Gaia Gundam into it's quadrupedal terrestrial-combat form-a mobile armor with an uncanny resemblance to a canine-and leaps between two more Windams, severing the attacking mobile suits at the hip. Rey slams his fists on the cockpit controls in frustration, however, as the Gaia falls headlong into a large patch of mud, sinking into the ground. An allied ZAKU approaches Rey's mobile suit to help him extricate the Gundam. Rey looks around as his mobile suit is helped out of the mud, watching as dozens of Windam assault the Minerva. Lunamaria flies down and joins the battle, flying under the massive, writhing cable just as the radio tower slams into the ground with a thunderous impact.

Luna shouts at Rey that they're are too-far outnumbered-there's no way they'll be able to defend the drop-ship during its crash-landing. Rey starts to agree, but suddenly stops talking and swivels his mobile suit to look at the distance. Rey smiles, staring at the empty clouds. Luna asks him if anything is wrong; Rey tells her not to mind it-they will definitely win this battle because Shinn is coming. Lunamaria asks Rey if he's gone mad, but Rey just tells her not to worry and resumes to fight. Luna grimaces and follows Rey back into battle, telling herself that even if Shinn is still alive, there's no way he would show up all the way out here.

The Minerva starts to leak smoke as it takes more and more fire. No matter how many are destroyed, it seems like the number of Windams attacking the ZAFT ship never decreases. Arthur starts to ask Talia if they should withdraw from the battle, but Talia says that it is imperative that they recover the damaged drop-ship. The supplies it carries is crucial to the refugee-relief efforts. Talia's train of dialog is cut short, however, as a pair of Windams fly toward the drop-ship-now at a very low altitude-and fire on it, destroying one of the large transports landing rockets. The drop-ship begins to veer off course and Meyrin announces that it is set to collide with the Minerva. Talia asks if they can evade it and Arthur tells her it's impossible; Meyrin shouts across the radio for her sister to help her, but the Minerva's mobile suits are too far away to help in time.

Less than half a kilometer above the Minerva and falling fast, a thick rain of golden tracers fly at the side of the drop-ship, igniting one of the massive thrusters in a spray or orange flame. As the engine erupts, the drop ship loses balance and crashes to the Earth very quickly, narrowly missing the Minerva. A team of six DINNs fly past the Minerva as the drop-ship settles in the wet ground, burning, strafing the Atlantic Federation Windams below. Talia glares at Arthur and asks him why he didn't alert her to the presence of allied mobile suits in the area. Arthur starts to say that there was too much interference for the radio to work properly, but one of the bridge officers leans over a console and shouts that Arthur simply wasn't paying attention. Talia glares at him, and Arthur lowers his head, apologizing.

The 13th mobile suit squadron joins with the three remaining mobile suits from the Minerva and attacks the Windams, quickly repelling the Atlantic Federation mobile suits. Rey tells Shinn it's nice to have him back, and Luna is stunned to see him at all. The Windams begin to withdraw, using the crashed drop-ship for cover. Lunamaria leaps into the air and lands on top of the drop-ship to attack the fleeing mobile suits, but stops firing as soon as she lands, allowing the Atlantic Federation mobile suits to escape. Rey asks her what's wrong, and Luna tells him to come look at something. Shinn and Heine follow Rey up to the top of the behemoth drop-ship, and the four pilots stare through a massive gash in the hull of the vessel at the innards. Rather than the food and medical supplies that was supposed to be inside the cargo hold, there is nothing but ruined machinery. Heine looks at it and scowls, asking why it is that refugee supplies would include industrial machinery.

Lunamaria is shocked, and wonders (out loud) whether or not the rumors of ZAFT preparing for another land-invasion were true after all. Shinn tells her it's impossible; it must be some kind of mistake. There's no way, he says, that Durandel would invade the Earth after what happened with Junon. Rey frowns and tells Shinn that a lot of the machinery-though damaged in the crash-can be identified as military-grade material. Shinn starts to say something more, but his commander interrupts and tells him to head to the Minerva for resupply and repairs. Heine tells Rey and Luna that if they weren't told something about the mission, it's because they didn't need to know, so they shouldn't bother thinking about it too much. Lunamaria says she doesn't like it and Rey tells her that, at the very least, it's not something they need to dwell on right away. With those words, the Saviour and Gaia head back to the Minerva.

As the sky darkens overhead, Talia orders the Minerva to set course back to Gibraltar. In the mobile suit hangar, Rey and Luna greet Shinn enthusiastically, asking him what he's been up to all this time. Heine watches the three friends from the distances, and then leaves. Shinn tells Rey and Luna that he's been all over the place and seen a lot of things; he'll tell them all about it later. The Minerva lifts up into the air and activates its engines, leaving the rocky ruins below. A dozen of dirty, ragged people approach the ruined drop-ship once the Minerva is out of site, scouring the wreckage for anything they can eat or sell. A few hours later, as the disparaged refugees finish stripping the ship of what little marketable circuitry it had left, a high-pitched noise echoes through the night. A ZAFT mobile suit-a BABI-painted solid black flies overhead and leaves without doing anything overtly. In response from a signal from the mobile suit, a small red light on the ruined radio-tower begins to flicker on an off. A heavy explosion is heard, one after another, as the crushed drop-ship self destructs. The radio booster then falls silent.

**Episode 16 - END**

Next Episode: The New Destiny


	17. Chapter 17 The New Destiny

**Episode 17: The New Destiny**

Amid the bleak landscape of the Siberian wasteland, a pair of old GINNs stomp across the ice. The armor of the mobile suits is dull and scratched; parts of it are rusted beyond repair, and neither unit has any active weapon systems remaining. One of the GINNs makes a grotesque scraping noise and falls to the ground, the armor around the mobile suit's "knee" slamming into the densely-packed ice and snow, blasting a thick plume of white powder up into the air. The cockpit hatch of the fallen GINN opens with a hiss; dressed in an ungainly fur parka, Sting Oakley removes himself from the mobile suit's interior and climbs down to the ground. The GINN's armor has a thick layer of ice coating it; climbing down, Sting loses his grip and falls backwards onto the snow.

Grunting, Sting stands up and brushes the ice off his face, glaring at the operation GINN, Sting grunts and makes a curt gesture, sarcastically thanking Auel for the help he didn't bother to offer. Auel's GINN lowers it's hand to lift Sting up toward it's cockpit. Sting joins Auel within the old, decrepit mobile suit and complains, asking himself why it is that they have to be stuck out in the middle of nowhere. Auel sighs and says there's no helping it; they'll get their fill of action soon enough. Auel continues to force the GINN further and further across the tundra, stopping at the edge of a steep frozen cliff-no more than a sheer wall of ice twice the height of the GINN, Auel mutters to himself that they've probably come far enough; now all they have to do is wait.

Auel grows impatient, and begins tapping his foot against the side of the cockpit. Sting comments that Auel can't seem to calm down when he's away from his "precious" sister. Auel tells him to mind his own business. After a few more moments of silence, Sting asks Auel if the PICES will really work over such a long distance. Auel shrugs and starts to say something, but stops. Sting tries ask what's the matter, but Auel cuts him off, telling him to help calibrate the special sensors. Small windows open up across the Ginn's cockpit, detailing zoomed-in images of a small black speck in the distance.

The object gets close and closer, revealing itself to be a small, unassuming flying-craft in the shape of a flying-wing-or an excessively wide triangle. The flying craft flies over the GINN, and then turns around for a flyby sweep. Sting is surprised, and Auel's eyes widen as the craft flies in tight loops, and performs various aerial acrobatics; Sting comments that it's impossible. Watching the craft intently, an image of Stellar running through a field of grass, laughing and jumping, appears in Auel's head. He smiles slightly, and then resumes his work.

Shinn's newly refitted Impulse Gundam landed on the Minerva's deck with a thud. Outside the ship's hangar, the muffled sounds of furious battle shook the vessel. In its sleek flying-form, Lunamaria Hawke's Saviour Gundam flew past the Bridge of the Minerva, missing a collision by no more than a few meters, and flies toward a pair of old Alliance Garuda-type mobile suit carriers, painted a vibrant shade of purple. Rey's Gaia Gundam and the ZAKU team also fight. Shinn hastily lowers the Impulse to the deck and waits for the maintenance crews to get to work on the resupply. Firing her twin beam cannons through the center of a Garuda, Lunamaria's Saviour flies through the gaping hole she blasted in the aircraft's hull, twisting back into mobile-suit mode as the Garuda exploded.

Luna smirked and watched as the Garuda's broken hull sank down, watching as Rey leaped his canine-shaped Gaia (in mobile-armor mode) across the wreckage, leaping into the air and slashing through the torso and legs of two Windams, respectively, with his wing-like beam swords. Lunamaria comments that it will be an easy victory. Lunamaria smirked confidently, returning the Saviour to it's mobile-armor configuration before it lost too much altitude. Shinn, in the Minerva's hangar, opened up his cockpit hatch to scream at the mechanics, who were failing to resupply the Impulse Gundam. One of the mechanics shrugs at Shinn, causing the young ZAFT pilot to redden with anger. Before he can fling another barrage of insults at the mechanics, a trio of bright blue signal flares shoot out from the prow of the Minerva-the signal to retreat. Seeing the signal flares, Luna, Rey, Heine and the other pilots grudgingly obey.

Getting out of her mobile suit, Luna asks Shinn if he has any idea what's going on. Shinn tells her has has absolutely no idea. Heine and Rey, meanwhile, have spoken to the mechanics on deck. Rey looks at Shinn and Luna, nodding, and then leaves the hangar; Heine approaches his two comrades and tells them that ZAFT has announced a complete cessation of operations. Shinn, surprised asks what that means. Heine states that all ZAFT forces on Earth are prohibited from acting in any capacity for an indefinite period of time. Shinn looks confused; Lunamaria groans loudly and runs her hands through her hair. Luna says that she doesn't care anymore and walks out of the hangar. Shinn watches through the open deck of the Minerva's catapult as the ship turns away from the Atlantic Federation military. Heine asks Shinn if he wants to get something to drink; Shinn agrees.

In a dimly lit apartment in the oldest part of the city on PLANT's Aprillius-2 colony, a narrow man with medium-length messy black hair and a pair of narrow, rectangular glasses sits hunched over a flickering blue computer screen. The man mutters in the darkness, telling himself to stay calm. To make sure he gets as much data from the archive as possible before he's detected. The man's name is Noah Jung. A small rectangular piece of hardware clunks and whirs as it transfers terabytes of data from PLANT's secondary archive to a small, glittering disc. There was no telling how much of the information would prove useful, but Noah would only have one chance to get it and he intended to be as thorough as he could.

The computer screen flashed twice in rapid succession, the blue light replaced with a large red "X" over a blank black screen. Noah tore the disc out from the transfer device and grabbed his coat, heading for the apartment door. Hearing the screeching of tires in the streets below, Noah ran to the window and looked down to see a trio of solid-black sedans pulling up to the base of the building; each vehicle unleashed a half-dozen large, buff men clad in solid black suits and dark sunglasses. Noah sighed to himself and comments that PLANT's security network is far more capable than he though it would be. Noah stared as the men surrounded the base of the building and forced their way inside.

Slapping his hands against his face (hard) Noah tells himself that he doesn't have time to just sit and wait. Noah lowers himself out the window and onto the fire escape. One of the men in black spots Noah crawl out and draws a large pistol from his coat pocket. Jumping onto the railing of the fire-escape Noah manages to avoid the first four gunshots fired in his direction. Noah jumped off of the fire escape and landed one floor down on the fire escape of the nearest building. Climbing insides an open window, Noah hid inside, peering out into the streets below. The black-suited men gather together and sweep outward, flocking toward the building that Jung flew into.

One man remained in the alley between Jung's apartment and the other building, keeping watch. Noah kept still for a moment, and the leaped out of the window, over the fire escape and fell straight down into the street below. Using the drag created by his coat to angle his trajectory, Noah landed on top of the black-suited man keeping watch in the alley, knocking the man unconscious with his feet while simultaneously reducing his impact-force. Straightening his hair, Noah brushes some dust from his shirt and checks his coat pocket to ensure the data-disc is undamaged. Yawning, Noah absentmindedly steps on the body of the man he knocked out and walks away from the scene.

Several blocks away, Noah Jung steps behind a small brick cafe on a busy street. Walking through a narrow alley Jung comes to a dark blue car, the door opens and a woman with shock-white hair motions for Noah to get inside. Noah sits in the car as it drives away, and hands the data-disc, brimming over with confidential data stolen from PLANT's secondary archive, to Ezalia Joule. Ezalia Joule asks Noah what he found. Noah shrugs and says he doesn't really know himself.

At the very least, he says, the disc contains proof that Chairman Durandel helped various military personnel-including several of those responsible for the Junon-Incident-escape the justice of the postwar treaty. Durandel allowed the ZAFT remnant to live at the abandoned colony Mendel, and hid their existence from the rest of the world. Ezalia frowns and says that it's not enough to act openly with; Noah Jung shrugs, telling Ezalia that whatever he found out, it was more than enough for ZAFT to want him dead.

Durandel smiled to himself as he approached a large, white podium. Dozens of cameras floated on narrow mechanical arms, capturing the Chairman's image from dozens of different angles. Hundreds of highly-sensitive microphones were scattered on the podium itself, as well as the floor and ceiling around it. Every word he spoke, every gesture he made, would be captured and recorded and remembered for eternity. Twenty or so members of PLANT's supreme council sat in the room with Durandel, just as anxious to hear what Durandel had to say as the rest of the world. The day before-Christmas Eve-PLANT had suspended all media broadcasts (both on Earth and in Space) in preparation for a special announcement by the Supreme Chairman the following day: December 25, CE 78.

In the Minerva's break room, Shinn, Luna, Rey, Heine and dozens of other crew members pushed against each other as they all tried to get the best view of the television screen as the countdown to Durandel's address came closer and closer. Sitting on a large flat rock, a few meters up from the beach, Kira Yamato and Lacus Clyne leaned on each other as they stared at a small, portable television set, waiting to hear what ZAFT had to say. People all over the world, the rich, the powerful, the poor and the powerless. Soldiers and refugees, tyrant and peasant-everyone waited in silence to listen to the speech. In the white walled room Durandel set his hands on the podium, staring confidently forward. With a singular desire in his heart, Gilbert Durandel spoke to the world.

"Five months ago a great tragedy befell our world. Every man, woman and child of the Human race felt the pain of Earth. The distinction between Natural and Coordinator dissolved in a single instant when we were all united in our grief. Earth, our home, the cradle of humanity, is scarred. She will never be the same again. Countless lives were lost when Junon fell on Earth. Countless more lives perished in the flames of war that spread across the planet in the violence that followed. Many have died; many more will die."

"As the elected leader of PLANT, I have acted as any other human would do. I have forgotten the evils of the past; the crimes committed against us and our own sins. We have come to Earth to help those who survive, to do as much as we can to ensure the well-being of our fellow humankind. But this is a task where we cannot succeed. Seven days ago I announced a general cessation of all relief operations on Earth. PLANT cannot save the planet from it's slow death; we cannot even afford to try. We came with food, water and medicine. We were met with violence and war. The Eurasian Confederacy and Atlantic Federation committed a greater atrocity in Bloody Berlin than the whole of humankind throughout the entirety of our history. Where you should work together, you fight amongst each other like rabid dogs. Where you should share what little you have, you hoard everything you can find. It pains me to say it, but even among those in ZAFT's supreme council the opinion that the people of Earth should be left to a miserable fate is a common one."

Interspersed through Durandel's speech were images of fighting and misery on the ruined earth. Dirty refugees, wrapped in bloody rags greedily eating the smallest portions of food. Short videos of the massacre in Berlin, and the various atrocities committed by the Eurasians and Altantics in their bid for the dwindling resources of the planet.

"Do not despair. I cannot help the Earth, that is true, but I can help the people of the Earth-and I will. Humankind has a destiny to fulfill, a destiny to survive and fill up the universe with more and more humans! Too many times have we been brought to the brink of extinction; no more. I have a plan, a plan to embrace our destiny to fill the cosmos. Over the past two months, two out of every three drop-ships landing on Earth has been empty of medical supplies. Empty of food. Empty for freshwater. Instead, vast quantities of industrial supplies have been sent to Earth. By not sending down refugee supplies many more have died than would have otherwise; this is a burden that I bear, and it is one that I must bear for by doing so even more lives will be saved."

"At various points on the Earth's surface, the industrial materials we sent down have been used to construct twenty orbital-launch vehicles. Each ship can hold a cargo of twenty-thousand people. It is my aim to transfer as many denizens of Earth to Space as possible before death claims everyone left. Each refugee will receive free passage, and with the gracious help of the sovereign Independent Colonies, each refugee will be provided with a place to live and food to eat. We will survive; we will all survive-that is our Destiny."

Durandel's speech concluded; the members of the assembly present in the room stared at the chairman dumbstruck. On the Minerva, the crew watches in awe as the video screen displays a giant tower of scaffolding at ZAFT's Carpentaria base crash to the ground, revealing a massive steel-gray colony ship, ready to take tens of thousands of refugees to a new life among the stars. In refugee camps across the world the squalid survivors of a doomed planet let loose a loud cheer, resounding across the surface of the planet with hopeful vigor.

**Episode 17 - END**

Next Episode: On Whose Mighty Shoulders The World Stands


	18. Chapter 18 On Whose Mighty Shoulders

**Episode 18: On Whose Mighty Shoulder The World Stands**

Across a black screen a small white point of light slowly drifts downward. More specks of white soon follow; the camera panning downward to reveal a gentle snowfall covering a small town in a layer of pure-white ice. The land in impenetrably dark, the shadow of night coupled with the devastation wrought by Junon's fall months earlier utterly obfuscating any sliver of light that might try to peek through the horizon. Nonetheless, thousands upon thousands of brilliant white snowflakes glow in the darkness, illuminating both heaven and earth as they fall.

Bundled in thick coats of long, coarse animal hair, two men trudge through the thickening drifts toward the only building in the town with lights shining out from inside. The building is a large, squat structure, built of wood much like the lodges that once freckled the landscape in times long ago. The man in the lead-an older, rather rotund fellow, with a sharp nose and short gray beard-stumbled slightly on a hidden stone. The younger man, comparatively short and startlingly thin in comparison to his companion stepped forward quickly to support the older man. The older man paused for a moment to turn to the side and nod in thanks to his companion before the two continued on their way.

As the two men continue trekking through the dark town, the deep voice of a narrator emerges. In the days following Durandel's speech, and the initial commencement of the Destiny Plan, no one knew quite how to react. ZAFT sent more mobile suits and personnel down to Earth to help with the exodus, which had spurred the Eurasians to pull back the larger part of their armies and the Altantics to curse ZAFT, claiming that Durandel was using the Destiny Plan as a pretext for conquest. ORB, of course, along with all of the nations that had helped to sponsor the construction of the Independent Colonies some years earlier wholeheartedly endorsed the plan.

The voices of the nations, however, were just as loud and just as shallow as always. The normal people of Earth, the soldiers fighting for their families, the refugees struggling to survive and the few men and women spared the immediate horrors of Junon were all, with little exception, at a loss.

Christmas day came and passed and no one seemed to notice. On the third of January, to the disbelief even of those crammed inside their steel bellies, the first dozen colony ships blasted off from Earth and set forth into the depths of space. Days passed, weeks passed, more and more people found themselves unwitting participants in Durandel's grand design. By St. Valentine's Day it was estimated that nearly 40% of the survivors on Earth had been relocated to new homes in the Independent Colonies.

Watching their resources dry up, their countrymen abandon them to the enticing dream of a new life in space, the Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Confederacy collided once more on the field of battle. ZAFT, preoccupied with the Destiny Plan could do little to stay the fires of war, and watched helplessly as the conflict between the Eurasians and Atlantics rose to unprecedented levels of violence, and spread the fury and terror of death to every corner of the world. And even as the Destiny Plan reached its zenith, it encountered great difficulty. The more people lifted into space, the more people on Earth desired to stay on the planet, clinging to their dissolving homes with all their willpower. By the end of February the once-great flood of applicants to the colony ships trickled to but a fraction of their initial numbers. Thus did Durandel determine a new course of action in absolute secrecy: to use any and all means to extricate the people of Earth, to save the poor masses from their inevitable deaths by herding them into space.

A battered tank crests a hill and lumbers downward, it's large dual-cannon turret swiveling to the side to unleash a fierce barrage of firepower rocking the vehicle off its treads ever-so-slightly. Aside from the crumbling ruins of old skyscrapers looming against the dull horizon, there is little in the landscape to mark a particular location. Two more tanks follow, firing their cannons in turn. A flurry of missiles rain down on the armored division from overhead, burning through the tank's armor and setting them aflame. A few soldiers escape the burning steel coffins, but die soon thereafter of the blaze. The camera pulls back to reveal a battle of immense scale; thousands of tanks and anti-armor troopers clash in a large field of broken steel and jagged rock; hundreds of mobile suits-of all varieties, from the venerable Daggers to the newer Windams-swarm back and forth, leaping over the artillery units and dueling with one another, trampling the hapless infantry underfoot.

Leaping back to avoid a missile-hit from a Eurasian APC, one of the Windam's notices a small red triangle dotting the edge of the gray horizon. Blasting the APC with its head-mounted vulcans, the Windam zooms in on the object; it is the Minerva, flanked by dozens of very large transport aircraft. Before the Atlantic Mobile suit can react in any way to the sighting, a singly high-intensity energy blast consumes it in a pillar of fire-immediately vertical of the blasted Windam, held aloft at an awkward angle by swiftly-overheating thrusters, Shinn's enhanced Impulse Gundam gracelessly falls to earth, smashing into the smoldering wreckage of the Windam. For the most part, none of the other soldiers engaged in battle take notice of ZAFT's arrival; continuing to pound shell after shell at each other unabated.

Firing a quick burst of missiles, Shinn destroys a group of artillery clustered near a the sunken ruins of an old iron bridge; sliding down the muddy bank, the Impulse Gundam kneels in the shallow edge of the river and sweeps across the wrecked bridge with its double heavy-beam cannons, cutting away the debris and sending it downstream. Perched upon the bow of an rusty oil tanker-filled to the top deck with refugees destined for a new life in space-Rey's Gaia Gundam shifted its canine head from side to side, scouting for potential enemies. Above, Lunamaria's Saviour flew about in large arcs and wide spirals, shooting down each Atlantic or Eurasian warrior that came too close. Standing precariously aboard the Minerva's wings, Heine's ZAKU squadron was equipped with the ZGMF-1000e (G) gunner packs, sweeping across the battlefield below with their powerful cannons to keep the soldiers below from attacking the refugee convoy in the skies.

In a matter of minutes, both the ZAFT convoy in the air led by the Minerva and the large transport vessels in the river pass through the battlefield; for the most part unharmed. Behind them, ZAFT leaves a thin trail of broken vehicles and burnt flesh. The fires of the great battle between the Atlantic Federation the Eurasians took little notice of the interlopers, ignoring ZAFT's presence even as they lost soldiers to them, focusing with unrelenting indifference to their own, private battle with each other. To Shinn, and to the many nervous refugees looking on the battle with renewed terror, it was a surreal experience; to voyage through such a cacophony of violence and death, yet still emerge unscathed.

At a large ZAFT base on the northern edge of what was once known as the Schwarzwald-or Black Forest-back when the region was still home to trees, Ezalia Joule stares out of the command tower-a very tall building resembling an old air-control tower, only much wider-to see the Minerva leading a pack of large cargo planes to the base. An adjutant approaches Ezalia and asks her if she would not prefer to rest for a while, since her trip down to earth from PLANT must have been very tiring. Ezalia declines, stating that she'd rather get to work as soon as possible. The adjutant laughs and mentions to her that Durandel said the same thing; Ezalia's face takes on a thoughtful expression and she curtly turns away from the windows, heading off to another task.

On board the Minerva, Shinn expresses his surprise that Durandel made the trip to Earth, and says that he never thought the Chairman would do something so dangerous. Heine comments that with the war with the Atlantics and Eurasians in full swing, it is indeed very dangerous-but Durandel has always had a bit of a reputation for acting recklessly, even back in the Bloody Valentine War. It was Durandel, after all, Heine says, that helped defend Rau le Creuset's defense after the Heliopolis incident. Lunamaria is taken aback, and says that she'd never heard anything like that.

Heine shrugs and says that it's one of the tiny little bits of trivia that almost never gets into the history books-particularly given what happened to Creuset at the end of the war. Rey sighs and says that it really doesn't matter; the Chairman came to Earth with the intent to speed along the Destiny Plan-rather than debate the merits of the Chairman's decision, they all ought to focus on fulfilling his expectations. Shinn laughs and tells Rey he's acting like one of the propagandists from the last war; Rey laughs and apologizes; Rey sits down and the four pilots chat with each other jovially as the Minerva's wings fold in and it lowers itself onto the tarmac below.

The older man placed his arm against the hard stone wall on the outside of the building while the younger used his feet-and in some cases his hands-to scrape away the layers of ice around the oaken door. Exerting a great deal of physical effort, the younger man pried the door open, revealing a warm room inside, lit with the warm flickering light of a large fire. The older man nodded in thanks and led the way in, leaving the younger man to force the door shut upon their entrance. Once inside, both men took off their large fur overcoats, revealing their faces to the crowd of men and women sitting around a large table in the center of the room. The older man, Richard Henne, was still pudgy, but without the coat he looked a good deal thinner; his face was dominated by a sharp nose of the Roman style, and a neatly-trimmed beard of pure-white. The younger man wore a pair of small-frame clear glasses, and short-cropped blonde hair; he was Henne's assistant and his name was Sai Argyle.

Sai moves quickly ahead of Henne to the table and pulls out a chair; Henne sits down and Sai stands at attention behind them. For a moment the room is silent; Henne scans the room with an expressionless eye, taking careful stock of the faces at the table. Everyone was dressed very formally and walked with a particular air of dignity. All the men and women were powerful, influential members of various states, corporations and organizations. Among those seated were the notorious Lord Djibril, the shadowy leader of Blue Cosmos, and Yuuna Roma Seiran-a prominent member of ORB's senate and the heir apparent to one of the oldest noble families in that land.

Henne thanks everyone for agreeing to meet with him on such short notice, despite all the troubles they independently face. Henne says that he has called everyone together for a single purpose; everyone at the table realizes that the biggest problem facing the world is neither the horrific war between the Atlantic Federation and the Eurasian Federation, or the the culminating effects of the Junon disaster-the greatest danger to the world is that ZAFT's ruthless ambitions are left free to roam across the world unchecked at the whims of Durandel. Everyone at the table is aware of this fact, Henne says, yet no one alone is capable of changing anything.

Yuuna Roma Seiran speaks up at this point, boldly asking Henne what he proposes they do. Already vast quantities of the populace have been forced from their homes into Durandel's prisons in space; all anyone has to work with is an ever-dwindling supply of manpower and resources. ZAFT may not be all-powerful yet, but the gap between the people of Earth and PLANT is simply to great to hope to bridge. Henne states that regardless of whether or not such a thing is feasible or not, it is their only course of action. No matter what his intentions might be, the course of action Durandel has taken is an evil one and must be stopped. Henne says that they only have two choices: either sit in compliance, and accept the ZAFT's rule, or fight to save their homes. He then demands that anyone that would rather flee to PLANT than fight leave the table, but everyone, predictably, stays seated.

From the shadows at the corner of the table Julius Djibril leans forward, sitting in such a position as to have his torso completely obfuscated in shadow while his face-deathly pale-is well-lit. Djibril says that everyone here agrees, of course, else they wouldn't have come. The great foundations that once supported the Earth have crumbled in Junon's wake; it is time that they, themselves rise up to shoulder the burden of the Planet's fate. Henne nods in agreement, and says that just as Atlas did countless eons ago, it is their turn to assume responsibility for the planet and all who dwell therein.

In the back of the room, in the darkest shadows, just behind the seat of Djibril, a thin mouth curls into a smile framed by a thin plate of metal. His face hidden by the helmeted-mechanism bound to his skull, Neo Roanoke allowed himself to feel the pleasant tingle of anticipation

**Episode 18 - END**

Next Episode: The Last War Of The World


	19. Chapter 19 The Last War Of The World

**Episode 19: The Last War Of The World**

A small drop of water falls onto a patch of dry dirt, sending a small puff of dust up into the air before it is quickly absorbed into the parched ground, leaving little more than a tiny pinprick of terrain a slightly darker than all the rest as evidence of its existence. A few more drops start to fall, slowly, and in moments the parched earth is quenched as the soft torrents of a gentle rain sweep over the area. The camera pans back to reveal a small village, comprised mostly of small wooden structures. People of varying ages, genders and ethnicities mill about, sometimes glancing at the horizon anxiously, but for the most part they seem to be waiting in an aura of dread that seems to slowly increase to keep up with the rising humidity.

A low humming in the distance, in the direction of a pair of pale blue mountains, slowly comes closer. A dozen or so small black specs appear in the horizon, their sound and appearance muffled by the soft patter of the uncharacteristically soft rain. The people in the town look at the specks with apparent fear, but only a few of them flee. As they come closer, the sound changes from a dull hum to a sharp throbbing, as each speck reveals itself to be a rather large helicopter, fitted with twin rotaries and emblazoned with the telltale red cross of ZAFT's Operation Destiny. A mother, carrying an infant under one arm and grasping the frail arm of another child running beside her, make her way swiftly to the edge of the town, hoping to find cover in the dying woodlands. Before she can make it, however, the giant black boot of a mobile suit slams to the ground, spraying the three civilians with a sharp streak of fresh mud.

The woman's baby begins to screech and squeal in abject terror as the mother attempts to calm it; the mobile suit takes a step forward, and is joined by three other similar units in a loose perimeter around the town. Each of the mobile suits is painted in stark black, and each resembles a ZAKU, though there are several distinct differences. Like the helicopters approaching the town from the mountains, these black mobile suits, too, are marked with the red cross of Operation Destiny. Using a loudspeaker embedded in the mobile suit's skull, one of the pilots announces to the civilians that they are ZAFT's Seraph Squadron, and they are there to escort all of the civilians to the nearest colony ship. The pilot demands that everyone stay where they are and to wait for the helicopters to land.

One old man, his left arm in a sling and dirty bandages wrapped loosely over his left eye, hobbles toward the lead mobile suit with the help of a cane. He spits on the ground-there is gooey, blackish blood mixed in with the saliva-and demands that ZAFT go away and leave them alone. He tells them that they'd rather die at home that be driven to some space-monster's version of a death camp. One of the mobile suits lurches forward violently, as if to attack the older man, but is stopped by another black suit, who urges his fellow pilot to calm down. Ignoring the lack of discipline with his subordinates, the leader-Jarrod Crux-firmly raises his suit's main weapon, a large autocannon in the rough shape of a rifle with a short, stubby barrel, and fires three pinpoint shells into the town. Three of the largest building explode, sending a rain of black ash onto the civilians as the dark gray smoke billows upwards. Crux tells the old man that if he wants to die with his home, he can, and then proceeds to lift his mobile suit's foot, crushing the man under it with a sickening crunch.

The helicopters land, and Crux once again addresses the civilians. He tells them that ZAFT has no use for pathetic trash that wants to cling to a dying planet. Either the civilians will board the helicopters and be transferred to a colony ship, or they will all die here. As if to expand their leader's point, the three other black mobile suits move forward and use their head vulcans-originally intended as anti-infantry weapons-to spray the remaining buildings. A few structures catch fire, but with the rain coming down harder by the minute, most of the buildings simply splintered, shattered and collapsed. At gunpoint, several hundred of the residents are loaded into the helicopters. No one looks particularly happy, but no one resists either. In a matter of minutes, half of the civilians have been loaded up like cattle and the helicopters raise off the ground and depart; two of the black mobile suits take to the air by way of a modified wing attachment and follow. As they disappear once more beyond the horizon, Crux informs the remaining civilians that the helicopters will return in a few hours and asks everyone to sit tight until then.

One of the civilians, a boy of about 14 years, uses an old lighter to ignite an oil-drenched cloth in a bottle of alcohol. Despite the rain, the boy hurls the makeshift bomb at Crux's mobile suit, and watches with morbid pleasure as the torso of the lead mobile suit erupts in flame. The civilians scream in terror and try to flee, hoping that the ZAFT mobile suits will be too distracted to give chase. Crux swears, and calls the fleeing naturals vermin. Ignoring the flames-which die out quickly enough, doing little more than scarring the paint-Crux uses his unit's head vulcans to carve a swath of red in the mass of fleeing civilians, his one remaining subordinate does the same. The large shells, designed to rupture the armor a powered infantryman, are so strong they literally break their victims into thousands of pieces, turning human beings into unholy geysers of blood and gore.

An eye narrows in the reflection of a screen depicting the massacre from the distance. Two green lines move vertically and horizontally as the screen shudders up and down, eventually intersecting over the image of the torso of one of the black mobile suits. At the center of the X, a red circle appears indicating a target lock. Noiselessly, a small band or gold energy stretches outward to the black mobile suit, but misses, slamming into the ground a few meters away. Taking note of the explosion, Crux's unit finds cover and scans the air for the attacker. Not finding anything at first, Crux orders his fellow pilot to lay low for a moment. Soon enough, Crux spots a speck on the horizon and zooms in on it. Even with the expanded screen, the object is still very far away, but it's closing fast. Two more golden lances of energy fly outward, incinerating a building near to where Crux was hiding.

A few civilians were still nearby, wailing in agony as they struggled to stay alive. Everyone who could flee was gone, everyone else was either dead or dying. Crux comments that the attacker is still far away and wonders why it can be so accurate. The attacking mobile suit fires three quick shots at the open ground in front of it, using the thick plumes of dust for cover. Bursting out from the smoke at a much closer range, the attacker reveals itself to be an ORB model Strike II Gundam, painted a nonstandard dark blue. Using it's massive thrusters to lift itself even higher above the burning town, the Strike II takes careful aim with it's giant beam sniper-cannon (a rifle nearly as long as the the Gundam was tall) and fires a bright gold bolt of energy at the second black mobile suit, cutting through the blackened husk of a home it hid behind and dissolving the ZAFT mobile suit's left arm into a puddle of molten alloy.

Crux decides to leap upward and attack the Strike II while it's preoccupied with his comrade, and rushes at the enemy mobile suit from below. Crux is shocked to see the Strike II move its shield to block his attack, effortlessly knocking his machine back to the ground, as it takes careful aim with its sniper-cannon to attack the other machine. Inside the cockpit, Kira Yamato squeezes the trigger a second time, and once again a beam of golden energy sparks out of the barrel, this time cutting through the other black mobile suit's head. A small communication window pops up in the cockpit, both the audio and video are hampered by static. The face of Lacus Clyne appears, wearing a worried expression. Lacus tells Kira to be careful, they've never seen this model of mobile suit before. Kira says he'll be fine and promises her that he'll be back safely. The communication cuts off and Kira tosses the sniper-cannon over the Strike II's shoulder, replacing it with the high-output beam saber. A small donut-shaped parachute shoots out from the butt of the discarded rifle, softening its landing in the waterlogged earth.

The blue Strike II lands quietly in the center of the town. The Gundam is motionless and neither Crux or his teammate move. Kira looks at the ruined corpses of the townspeople and grimaces. Without warning he swings the Strike II's left arm, releasing the large shield from it's lock on the Gundam's forearm and sending it hurdling toward Crux's unit. Jarrod Crux howls in surprise as the spiked end of the shield tears into the black mobile suit's upper torso, carving a long gash across the unit's torso, exposing the cockpit to the elements. Crux stares at the Strike II in fear, then regains composure and orders his comrade to attack. The other black suit, missing both it's left arm and head, ignores Crux's order and begins to back away. Crux flies into a rage and fires his autocannon at his comrade and places three shells in the mobile suits back. Kira rushes forward, but is unable to prevent the attack. Using the immense power of the high-output beam saber, Kira cleaves a diagonal slash across the upper torso of Crux's mobile suit, cleanly removing the craft's head and right arm.

Wiping the rain from his face Crux curses, calling the Strike II's pilot an asshole natural. Kira levels his deactivated beam saber at Crux's open cockpit, and demands the ZAFT pilot's surrender. Cursing again, Crux flings the autocannon at the Strike II, which Kira easily bats away. Before it hits the ground however, Crux fires his head-vulcans at the discarded weapon, causing it to explode in a disproportionately large pillar of smoke and flame. Leaping into the air, the wings on the back of Crux's black mobile suit unfurl and a pair of powerful thrusters ignite, fueling his rapid retreat. As he desperately heads for cover, Crux promises that he will make the natural bastards pay for his disgrace. Alone in the ruined village, Kira exits the Strike II's cockpit and walks around, slowly, treading over the broken human remains without pause, looking for any unlikely survivor. His face is expressionless yet tears stream down his cheeks, silent and unnoticed.

Noah Jung steps to the side of the control center as a pair of exhausted, apparently overworked aides rush in, exclaiming that shuttle is late. An officer asks for a status update and one of the aides hurriedly informs him that the Senate's shuttle was delayed passing through the debris belt, and will not arrive until 2 minutes past its scheduled arrival time. Clenching his teeth, the officer throws a clipboard at the aide, telling her not to waste his time with trivial nonsense. Blocking the clipboard with her hands raised in front of her face-and sending rogue papers flying in every direction-the aide apologize furiously, and says she was worried the Chairman might get angry. Appearing suddenly from behind, Gilbert Durandel tells the nervous woman that he's a patient man. Startled, the woman turns around and apologizes again. Everyone in the command center-including Noah-snap salutes at the chairman; Noah is surprised that Durandel was able to get in without him noticing, and tells himself that he's going to have to be more careful in the future.

Walking toward the center of the room, Durandel stops suddenly and turns to face Noah, his eyes narrowing. Durandel asks Noah if they've met before; Noah, wearing a large set of black shades, removes his glasses and squints a bit, and tells Durandel that it is their first meeting. He introduces himself as Noah Jung and supposes that Durandel once knew his father. Durandel looks confused for a bit, and then tells Noah to forget about. Noah salutes once more and puts his glasses back one. Durandel moves to the center of the command center and looks out the large windows at the airfield. Located east of Dublin, the ZAFT base was rather large for such an isolated region. It was one of the few areas in Europe that was relatively free from the strife caused by the war between the Atlantic Federation and Eurasia.

Durandel approaches the window and notes a tiny group of dots on the horizon. He stares at them for a moment, but says nothing. Walking way from the window Durandel moves toward the middle of the room again; shrugging, Durandel comments that it doesn't matter if the representatives are late or not, they're really only coming to observe. Before anyone can reply, however, a massive explosion rocks the building. Durandel frowns slightly, and the officer in charge demands a status report. Before anyone can answer, three missiles streak toward the command center. One slams into the tarmac just below, blasting chunks of concrete into the air. The second impacts the side of the building with a deafening explosion. The third missile crashes through the glass window of the command center and detonates, causing the floor above to collapse, pinning Durandel, Noah and the others under a heap of rubble. As blood trickles down his face, Durandel's vision blurs and he blacks out.

A pair of hand frantically remove large chunks of rubble and toss them aside. A child's voice screams, terrified, for "Gil." A young blonde boy, no more than ten years old, removes large chunks of rubble with his bare hands, and drags the bloody form of a black haired teenager from the wreckage. Explosions can be heard in the distance, some louder than others. Fighter aircraft fly overhead, gleaming against the bright blue sky in the full light of the sun. One by one they let loose volleys of missiles, scorching the earth and leaving a raging inferno in their wake. The blonde boy shakes the teenager, Gil, and tells him to wake up. Gil's eyes slowly open and he takes a moment to focus. The blonde boy sighs and leans back, moaning, telling Gil to stop acting so immature and get up. Again, the boy tells Gil to get up. This time his voice is a little deeper. Gil, still laying down, struggles to move by he cannot. As the fighting continues around them, the blonde child tells Gil to stop being so lazy.

Gil's eyes glaze over and the world suddenly becomes very, very blurry. It gets darker and darker. Again, Gil hears the blonde boy urging him to wake up. This time, however, the voice quickly changes from that of a child to that of a man. "I'm sorry," the man's voice says. Deep but strained, the voice is still recognizable as that of the blonde child. Durandel grimaces as a pair of non-commissioned officers remove a large chunk of rubble from his chest. Coughing, and allowing the two men to help him stand up, Durandel wipes away the blood from his face and asks what is going on. The ceiling of the command center is gone, nothing is overhead but a gray sky. In the distance, several ZAKU's are fighting with a group of mobile suits, resemblant of Windams but different, sporting a distinct light-green paint scheme and all with the symbol of a blue circle on their shoulders. Durandel tries to ask who they are, but his voice is hoarse and no one hears him.

A pair of medics remove the bloody corpse of the woman who had been frantically apologizing to Durandel earlier. The commander turns and notices Durandel, and breathes a sigh of relief. Durandel nods at the battlefield beyond, and the commander takes it as a request for a status update. The commander clears his throat and tells Durandel that it's been ten minutes since the attack. The base was assaulted by an unknown force comprised of unknown units broadcasting an unknown IFF. The enemy has mostly retreated, save for a few stragglers, and received very few losses. The commander motions outward and says that ZAFT, on the other hand, suffered enormous losses. Both in terms of material and personell. The commander straightens up and his voice stiffens. He then informs Durandel that of the six shuttles expected to arrive, five have been shot down and the sixth is missing. Whether or not the members of the supreme council that were onboard are dead or alive, he says, is unknown. Coughing violently, Durandel wipes more blood from his brow and and, again, asks who the attackers are. Both Durandel and the commander look outward as the ZAKU team finishes off the strange Windams, but neither man says anything.

Covered in thick sheen of blood, some of it long-dry, some of it still wet, Kira Yamato rises from his knees. Putting her hand on his shoulder, Lacus Clyne holds him close, comforting him. Her white dress, too, is stained with the blood of the innocent. Though the sky is still gray, the rain has stopped. The ground is still wet, but most of the corpses are gone. Hundreds of mounds dot the landscape, simple wooden crosses marking each one. Both Kira's and Lacus' hands are dirty from the work. Lacus looks down and closes her eyes. Surveying the dead town, Kira promises that he will never forgive Durandel.

**Episode 19 - END**

Next Episode: Defeat And Chaos In The Dark


	20. Chapter 20 Defeat And Chaos In The Dark

**Episode 20: Defeat And Chaos In The Dark**

Two brilliant streams of crimson-laced energy fire from the twin weapon pods of Shinn's Impulse Gundam, engulfing a green Windam in a sea of vibrant orange flame. The Windam's molten wreckage falls to the ground, smearing a small swath of black carbon across the Minerva's port wing. The Minerva, floating the muddled skies several hundred feet above the ground, turns sharply to the side, it's massive Tannhäuser cannon piercing through two of Atlas' Garuda air-carriers. Still standing on the top of the Minerva's deck, using the airborne warship as a mobile firing-platform, Shinn fires a pair of volleys at a trio of A1-C2 model high-mobility Windams. The Windams easily dodge Shinn's missile barrage, and lay down a barrage of their own at the Minerva's mobile suit deck. As the Minerva shudders from the damage and begins to list, the Impulse Gundam looses it's footing and careens over the side of the vessel, falling headfirst.

Flying at the Impulse, Lunamaria quickly transforms her Savior into it's mobile suit mode, grappling onto the Impulse and righting the Gundam. Shinn uses the Impulse' powerful thrusters, designs for high-velocity combat in space, to fly a short distance and land safely on the ground below. Shinn thanks Luna for helping him out, and Lunamaria tells Shinn that he needs to be more careful. An older, Federation model Windam takes the opportunity to lunge at the Savior while Lunamaria was distracted, but a quick beam through the head from a nearby allied ZAKU destroys it in a single shot. Inside the cockpit of the ZAKU, Heine tells Lunamaria not to get too cocky. Lunamaria then boosts back into the sky, gruffly telling Heine that she'll show him how a 'real ace' fights. Shinn sighs, and comments to himself that Luna really does need to take more care in the future.

With the Garudas destroyed by the Minerva, the remaining Atlas forces have no means of retreat, and are quickly obliterated. Rey signals to the Minerva that all enemy force are destroyed, and Shinn and Lunamaria are ordered back to the hangar. Heine and Rey, however, are to remain active, in case of another attack. Two small helicopter-like drones lift off from the Minerva, each carrying the end of one of the ship's long energy cables in the grip of a single robotic arm. The cables are attached to both Heine's ZAKU and Rey's Gaia Gundam. As the cable attaches itself to the back of Gaia, Rey turns his Gundam to look at the large airfield that had been Atlas target in the brief scuffle.

A half-dozen giant egg-shaped colony ships stood tall. Save for a few charred scratches, they were all undamaged. Rey sighs in relief, thankful that all of the refugees emerged unharmed from the battle. Across the radio, Heine comments that it's odd for Atlas to target colony ships that are already loaded with refugees; up till now, Atlas had limited its targets solely to military and production facilities. Rey frowns and comments that it's only natural for things to escalate, but Heine laughs. Commenting that with their goal of protecting the people of Earth, there's no way that Atlas would ever actually resort to attacking fully-loaded colony ships. Rey frowns, and says that he hopes Heine is correct.

On board the Minerva's Bridge, Talia watches as the six giant colony ships slowly rise above the ground and move heavenward, momentarily covering the Minerva in a blanket of smoke. As the ships disappear into the gray skies above, Talia orders Rey and Heine to stand down, and orders the Minerva to set sail for the ZAFT base in Izmir, along the Eastern coast of the Aegean Sea. Meyrin notifies Talia that the Minerva is receiving it's daily news telecast, and falls silent. Meyrin gasps, and thanks God as tears well up in her eyes. Arthur nervously asks her what's wrong, and Meyrin says that several senators were found alive. Talia, Arthur, and several other officers crowd behind Meyrin's console, watching relieved as images of Ezalia Joule, and several other senators, being led away from the burnt wreckage of a downed shuttle played across the screen.

Talia sits back in her chair and sighs, saying she's glad that their government was completely decapitated. She then rolls her eyes, and comments to herself that in a thousand years she'd never think to say something like that. Arthur walks up to her and says that no one could expect that kind of thing. Who knew that an organization like Atlas could be born in the violence following Junon's fall. That they could develop their own weapons so quickly, and even mount an attack on the Supreme Chairman and council without being discovered. The whole thing was completely unbelievable. With all the fighting still going on between Eurasia and the Atlantic Federation, Atlas has plenty of places to hide. Talia says that things are even worse than the apparent reality. No matter what kind of guerrilla tactics Atlas uses, they still have to have bases and production factories somewhere.

With all the equipment that Atlas has been using, they must be getting a lot of funding somewhere. Neither the Atlantic Federation or the Eurasians are in any position to fund an independent paramilitary organization, and most of the other major political powers are fully committed to the implementation of the Destiny Plan. But so far ZAFT has been unable to find any of Atlas' sources of funds, equipment or raw materials. And while ZAFT keeps looking for a way to cut off Atlas from the base, Atlas keeps on attacking them. Meyrin asks if the Destiny plan is really that bad of a thing, to inspire Atlas to fight against it so fervently. Arthur tells her that it's not about the Destiny plan at all. Meyrin is a bit confused by this. Talia states that the real reason for the war is the same that it's always been. If Durandel were a natural, Atlas wouldn't exist at all. It's the fact that coordinators are trying to save them that stirs up the ire. Meyrin frowns and says that it's stupid. Arthur shrugs.

The night sky in Edirne was almost as dark as the day sky. In place of illuminated patches of red dotting the horizon were illuminated patches of black. The area around Veliko Tarnova had been hit especially bad by the fragments of Junon. A chunk of the asteroid had impacted very near to the city, a annihilated every living creature in a radius that expanded nearly as far as Stara Zagora, and funneled immense quantities of dust into the air beyond. Edirne was a small city north of the Marmara Sea, straddling the Bosporus between the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea. Its proximity to water kept the air cleaner than many of the nearby settlements, but the citizens of Edirne still had to wear masks across their mouths in order to breathe the outside air.

With his metal-clad head hidden beneath a dark gray hood, Neo stands outside of an old stone warehouse; Sting Oakley stands beside him with a dull red scarf wrapped around his face, protecting his mouth and nose from the dust-laden air. A large truck approaches the warehouse; hauling a flatbed trailer with a massive form covered with burlap on top. The truck stops in front of Neo and the driver gets out-his face, too, covered with a thick cloth-and nods curtly at Neo before walking away. Neo gestures at Sting, who leaps to the back of the truck and pulls away the burlap cover, revealing the cargo. Laying back-down on the flatbed is an enormous mobile suit-nearly twice the size of an Atlantic Windam. Stings eyes widen, and he pulls the cloth up even further to show Neo. The mobile suit is painted a dark shade of blue, and upon it's head is the distinctive multi-pronged V-Fin of a Gundam. Neo nods at Sting once more and moves inside the warehouse. Sting hops into the abandoned driver's seat of the truck as the two massive steel doors to the warehouse slowly shudder open.

The inside of the warehouse is very different from the outside. It's very clean, very white, and very well-lit. A couch is set up in a corner, Auel is playing a handheld gaming device as Sting drives the Blue Breaker inside, seemingly unaware of the heavy machinery operating nearby. Stellar walks up to Neo and asks him if it's the Blue Breaker. Neo nods and Stellar asks if it's really alright to let Atlas see the PICES device. Neo says it's fine; the people in Atlas don't really have the background to understand what it is to begin with, and even if they did it's an older prototype model, so any knowledge they could gain would be fairly insignificant. Stellar asks Neo if it'll be of any use at all, if it's so insignificant. Neo smiles and states that it'll be an amusing toy to play with while they're working with Atlas. Stellar sighs and says she really hates all the bickering going on in Gaia. Neo tells her not to worry about it too much; she just need to bear with it a little while longer. Stellar shrugs and says she'll do what she can. Approaching the couch, she pushes Auel's legs off of the side and sits down, leaning back and closing her eyes. Auel doesn't say anything, still playing with his toy, and Neo smiles softly before walking away.

In the General Assembly building in the center of ORB's Onogoro Island, Yuuna Roma Seiran, the heir to one of ORB's oldest aristocratic houses and member of the Assembly, is led into the office of the chief representative, Cagalli Yula Atha. Cagalli, apparently very stressed, rudely asks Yuuna what was so important that he would request a private meeting with her when everyone is so busy with the colony ship launches. The corner of Yuuna's mouth curls in a rather disturbing half-smile and he tells Cagalli that he's there to speak to her about her brother. Yuuna tosses a folder onto Cagalli's desk, allowing several large satellite photos to spread out.

Several photos show top-down views of a distinctive blue-colored Strike II Gundam, others show a small fleet of a dozen or so sailing vessels. Yuuna tells Cagalli that it's been more than two weeks since Kira took command of ORB's 8th Fleet, and there are several reports that the fleet has engaged in combat with ZAFT forces in the Mediterranean regions. Cagalli frowns, and says that the information isn't reliable; Kira isn't the kind of person to act so foolishly in this kind of situation. Yuuna grimaces, and tells Cagalli that it doesn't matter if it's really Kira or not. ZAFT will want an explanation, and this kind of thing can very easily turn into a major incident-even if it's untrue. Cagalli doesn't speak for a while. Yuuna asks her what she intends to do.

Cagalli says she won't do anything at all-not until they know more about what's going on. Yuuna sighs and tells her that her way of thinking is only going to invite trouble. Cagalli gets angry and tells Yuuna that she can decide whatever she wants, and then orders him to go. On his way out of her office, Yuuna turns to Cagalli and comments that if Kira really is fighting against ZAFT, there are some people that might view that as a good thing. Cagalli, her head lowered, tells Yuuna to give her some time alone. As Yuuna shuts the door behind him, Cagalli takes one of the photos-an aerial shot of the Strike II kneeling in the middle of a ruined village-and asks herself what the hell Kira is thinking.

At the ZAFT base at Izmir, the loud sound of an air-raid warning blares across the tarmac. The bridge of the Minerva is in a state of panic as the officers rush to their posts, hurriedly trying to figure out the cause for the alarm. Struggling to get into her seat, Meyrin spills a glass, soaking the floor of the bridge with a thin sheen of fluid. Meyrin starts to bend down to clean it up, but laughs, thinking better of it, and sits down at her station. Talia enters the bridge and demands a status update. Before anyone can respond, however, the glowing visor of a Windam flashes the bridge, as a purple colored A1-C2 model enhanced high-mobility type flies by the bridge at high speed. Inside the C2 Windam, Auel Loussier fires several shots of his beam rifle at the rear-spine area of the ZAFT warship.

Two more dark-purple C2 Windams appear at the opposite end of the base, piloted by Neo Roanoke and Sting Oakley. Together with Auel, the three Phantom Pain mobile suits wreak havoc on the base, covering dozens of structures and idle vehicles in a swath of flame before the ZAFT forces have time to mount a counterattack. A pair of CGUEs set off from a far hangar, while the Minerva's Gundams rush to sortie. Almost immediately after the three Gundams catapult from the Minerva's deck, Heine's trio of ZAKUs run out of the ship's hangar and jump down to the pavement below, each one firing off several shots of their beam rifles mid-fall. The Saviour, in its mobile-armor configuration, flies straight at Neo's Windam, firing it's twin heavy beam cannons as get closes in.

Neo reacts surprisingly quickly, however, boosting down and to the side to avoid the attack. Lunamaria curses and transforms the Saviour into its mobile suit configuration just as she passes the Windam, and turns around swiftly to bring down her beam saber over the top of Neo's Windam.

The beam saber cuts through air. Lunamaria is shocked, and doesn't have time to react as Neo's Windam lands on her from above, using it's feet to knock the Saviour out of the sky and send it careening downward, it's wings broken. Lunamaria tries to fly back up to attack Neo's Windam once more, but Neo's kick heavily damaged the Saviour's wings.

With the Lift-System out of control, the Saviour spins wildly to the side. Deactivating the system, Luna runs the Savior behind a small administrative building while firing her beam rifle. Neo pauses a moment to dodge the Saviour's halfhearted attack, grins briefly at the sight, and flies toward the Minerva to join Auel in the attack. Neo radios commands to his two subordinates, telling them that all they have to do is keep the enemy mobile suits distracted until the Workers get in close enough to attack. Auel shouts his affirmative, using his beam saber to slice the head off of one of the Minerva's ZAKUs as Heine starts to move back toward the Minerva's deck in a defensive position.

On the bridge of the Minerva, Arthur informs Talia that they've lost half of their ZAKUs, and Heine has sustained too much damage to keep fighting. A trio of CGUEs fly overhead, covering Neo and Auel's Windams in a hail of bullets. The left arm of Auel's Windam gets shredded, and falls limp. Neo tells Auel to keep the Minerva's suits occupied, and boosts backward, firing his beam rifle four times and cutting searing holes through the cockpits of each of the three CGUEs. On the Minerva's bridge, Talia is shocked that so few Windams could cause so much damage. Forced to walk at a slow pace back to the Minerva, Lunamaria's hands tremble; she is unable to fully realize the fact of her defeat. Sting moves in to attack the Saviour, but is blasted by a barrage of missiles from Shinn's Impulse-Kai. Rey's Gaia then runs up to attack the C2 Windam at close range, Shinn leaps backward and starts to move back toward the Minerva, shouting at Lunamaria to not push herself too hard with the Saviour damaged.

As Shinn leaps into the air and boosts toward one of the Minerva's wings, two small dark objects fly by just over the Gundam's head, rocketing toward the Minerva. Neo tells Sting and Auel that the Workers have arrived, and tells them to pull away from the Minerva to make it easier for Stellar to concentrate. Heine, the left leg of his ZAKU completely torn off, lunges at Sting's Windam, tackling the enemy mobile suit and sending the two of them crashing onto the tarmac. The two PICES-Workers-tiny black aircraft, equipped with a myriad of optical sensors and a single beam cannon mounted in the nose-fly around the Minerva in tight circles and sharp arc, easily dodging the anti-air fire from the Minerva itself, as well as shots from the ZAFT mobile suits rushing out to defend the base. Shinn fires a barrage of missiles at the Workers as they bombard the Minerva's hull with bright flashes of beam energy, charring huge chunks of the ship black. The drones, however, easily dodge each of the missiles with stunning precision, relentlessly gutting the Minerva and sending billowing clouds of acrid smoke up into the evening sky.

Talia orders all of the allied mobile suits to gather at the Minerva's location to shoot down the drones. Arthur, shocked, wonders what the hell is making the drones so hard to fight. Neo, Sting and Auel continue to fight with the various CGUEs and DINNs defending the base. Lunamaria limps toward the Minerva's deck, hoping for a quick repair, while Rey's quadrupedal Gaia Gundam gallops toward the Phantom Pain Windams, engaging all three Atlas mobile suits in a close range melee-fight. Rey tells Shinn that he'll keep the Windams occupied, and tells Shinn to hurry up and take care of the drones before they sink the Minerva. Shinn nods his head and moves in to attack the drones, but suddenly stops.

The cockpit of the Impulse Gundam goes completely silent. The flames running up and down the Minerva's hull seem to stop. The entire battlefield seems to be moving in slow-motion. Shinn starts to hear a faint noise. More curious than apprehensive, Shinn begins looking around for the source of the strange noise-a noise that only he can hear. Shinn's eyes lock on to a single point in the far distance, and he smiles, telling himself that he's found it. The battlefield returns to normal, and Shinn suddenly hears Meyrin's voice worriedly asking him what's wrong. Shinn tells Meyrin that he's going to go check something out. Meyrin begins to panic, angrily asking Shinn what he's doing. Shinn doesn't seem to hear her. On the bridge, Talia hears Meyrin's panicked voice and asks her what the problem is. Meyrin tells Talia that Shinn is leaving the combat area. Arthur, just as shocked by this information as Talia, asks what the hell Shinn is thinking. Meyrin looks down and says that Shinn's stopped responding to her hails. Talia clenches her fist as the Minerva tilts to the side and shudders under the constant assault of the PICES-Workers.

Several kilometers away, inside the belly of a very large, very antique-looking transport plane, Stellar Lousier moves her arms in a gentle dance, swaying them back and forth in a complex pattern. At the Izmir base, the movements of the Atlas drones mirror the movements of Stellar's hands directly, as she controls them by way of the PICES over a distance of nearly six kilometers. A large white skullcap is attached to the back of Stellar's skull, with dozens of thick wires and narrow cables stretching upward to the main PICES device in the ceiling. Stellar herself is sitting in a single chair in the middle of the room, humming a song to herself as she directs the movement and attacks of the PICES-Workers in distant battle. One of the small windows on the side of the aircraft's fuselage lights up, however, as a pair of bright red beams cut through the nearby air. The airplane tilts sharply to the side to avoid the unexpected attack, causing Stellar to momentarily lose her concentration and let her left hand fall. At the Izmir base, one of the drones dips into a sharp dive just before firing it's beam cannon. The shot of energy harmlessly dissipates into the air just before several shells from a CGUE's Gatling cannon shred through the Worker's soft armor.

Stellar marvels at the fact that a ZAFT pilot was able to approach her without her knowledge, and then smiles to herself, saying that anyone that capable deserves a special treat. With her right hand still directing the combat of a PICES-Worker at Izmir, Stellar's right hand takes control of a third drone inside of the transport plane's rear cargo-bay. The drone blasts a hole through the side of the plane with its beam cannon and flies at Shinn's Impulse Gundam. Shinn exchanges several shots with the drone but is unable to land even a glancing hit. The Worker flies straight at Shinn, firing it's beam cannon at close range. Unable to dodge, Shinn brings up the Impulse Gundam's twin weapon pods between himself and the attack, sacrificing the Gundam's weapons in order to spare his own life.

As the weapon pods disintegrate in the blast, Shinn curse again. Finally realizing that the only way to stop the drones is to take out the aircraft, Shinn boosts up toward it, brandishing one of the Impulse Gundam's spare beam sabers in each hand. As he gets closer, the sound in Shinn's head becomes more and more pronounced. Soon, the sound becomes sounds. Multiple notes of a song. The melody that Shinn hears is the same melody Stellar is humming as she controls the Workers in their attacks. For a moment, time stops again and Shinn sees a fleeting image of Stellar's face. Inside of the aircraft, Stellar, too, sees a fleeting glimpse of Shinn's face. At that one moment each wonders who the other is. Unfazed by the strangeness of the encounter, Shinn's lunges at the aircraft, plunging both beam sabers into the cockpit of the Atlas airplane. As the cockpit erupts in a plume of orange flame, the third PICES-Worker crashes into the Impulse from behind, forcing the Gundam into the molten wreckage of the airplane's cockpit as the two, now bonded in flame, fall to the ground.

Shinn opens up the Impulse Gundam's cockpit and leaps, grabbing a small parachute with him. Strapping the parachute around him as he jumps, Shinn opens the chute as soon as he can, only a few hundred meters above the ground. The chute opens, and Shinn glides down to a very rough landing in a bed of rocks, dirt, and thick, gnarled tree-roots. Flipping head-over-heels a half dozen times before coming to a stop, Shinn groans and wipes blood away from his face as the Atlas airplane explodes in the distance. Shinn tries to stand up, but his arm is broken and he can't support his own weight. Eventually Shinn manages to turn himself over so that he is lying back-down in the dirt. As he slowly becomes aware of the adrenaline pumping through his system, Shinn raises the hand on his unbroken arm to the sky and starts laughing, extremely grateful-and more than a little surprised-to be alive.

At Izmir the Minerva shudders to the ground, it's left wing cutting through a building as it crash-lands on the tarmac. Neo sees the third drone suddenly stop and crash to the ground, and realizes immediately that something must have happened at the control site. He then orders Sting and Auel to pull back, and the three Windams leave. As smoke pours out of dozens of wounds strewn across the Minerva's hull, Lunamaria throws her pilot's helmet against a bulkhead, smashing her fist against the steel wall in frustration. Staring up at a starry sky, Shinn keeps smiling. The stars slowly come out, first a few and then many, and soon a brilliant starry sky is revealed in the heavens, obscured partly the the ever-present cloud of Junon's dust, but still very visible. Shinn hears the click of a pistol's hammer cocking, and looks back to see Stellar pointing a gun at his head. Shinn stares at the muzzle of the weapon for a moment and then turns his head back to look at the sky. Softly, his face very calm as we stares heavenward, Shinn says to Stellar: "It's a nice evening, isn't it?"

**Episode 20 - END**

Next Episode: The Wolf That Cries In The Night


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